Sunday, August 17, 2014

Morgan Bears Offense Holds Off Defense in First Preseason Scrimmage, 19-12


Morgan State University choir tours Middle East including Doha, Qatar; Muscrat, Oman; and Dubai, UAE.  Video is from May 20, 2014 performance in Doha.

BALTIMORE, Maryland --  The offense held on to defeat the defense, 19-12, in the first scrimmage of preseason camp Saturday at Hughes Stadium. The scrimmage was 89 plays long and lasted two hours under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s.
 
Redshirt freshman lineman Lacory Britton recorded five tackles, three tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.  Senior safety Paul Eatman finished with six tackles. Redshirt sophomore Andrew Mitchell returned a fumble 27-yards for a touchdown.
 
Senior quarterback Robert Council completed 9-of-22 passes for 145 yards and one interception against the first-team defense. Moses Skillon completed 5-of-10 passes for 65 yards and an interception, while senior Seth Higgins was 1-of-2 passes for 8 yards. Council notched the longest play of the scrimmage when he connected with Thomas Martin for a 49-yard pass play.
 
Redshirt sophomore Lamont Brown III paced the rushing attack with 53 yards on eight carries, including a 5-yard touchdown run. Senior Tracy Martin also looked solid by recording 77 yards on seven carries.
 
10 different receivers caught at least one pass, including Ricky Fisk (2 catches for 39 yards), Willie Gillus (2 for 29), Herb Walker (2 for 19) and Andrew King (2 for 16). 
 
On special teams, redshirt-sophomore Chris Moller was an impressive 4-for-6 on field goal attempts, including makes from 50-yards, 45, 30 and 23.
 
On the third series, Brown capped a 5-play drive with a 5-yard sweep during which he trucked a defender and dove into the endzone for the first score of the day.
 
The defense stepped up on the ensuing drive after Eric Alvis recorded an interception off Skillon, followed a series later when Andrew Mitchell scooped up a Skillon fumble and raced 27 yards to help the defense trim the lead to 7-6.
 
The offense responded with four drives that were capped with field goals by Moller.
 
Morgan State will return to practice Monday.
 
Lee Hull Post-Scrimmage Quotes:
"I think all three phases have been performing pretty well. They've been coming along and they've been grasping the offense, defense and special team's schemes and we've been having pretty good practices. I think we had two bad practices out of the 15 practices we've had, so I think they're coming along. It's different, it's a hard training camp, but they're working hard and I think they're getting used to it."
 
"On offense I think Andrew King is having a really good camp. He's made some big plays for us, and he's the first one in all the sprints – he's in great shape. And Lamont Brown has been running the ball really well and is another one that stands out on offense."
 
"On defense, Cody Acker has done a really good job for us. He's been getting everybody in the right position, along Nate Ayers. So those two guys on defense are kind of the leaders of our defense getting everybody in the right spots."
 
"We want to continue to work on our tempo. We want to play faster on offense. Today we had too many penalties – too many holding penalties, so we have to get our hands in the right position and move our feet on offense. And on defense, we just have to get lined up. We had some mistakes in the secondary and we actually missed a couple of – what I call, 'layups' that should've been touchdowns. The quarterback just kind of overthrew the receiver. We just have to cleanup some of our coverage mistakes that we had in the secondary."
 
"The position battles are mainly our quarterback and running back spots. I think 'Josh' Council has done a good job so far, Moses Skillon is improving, and Seth Higginsis coming back from injury – you could see he took some steps the last couple of practices. So that battle is going pretty well.  And at our running backs spot, I like all three. Lamont Brown has stood out just a little more the last couple of days, but Tracy Martin and Herb Walker have also been doing a great job. So those are really the two big position battles. "


Game Tickets: Season tickets for all four contests at Hughes Stadium plus the Whitney Young Classic at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Sept. 20 are on sale now. For Morgan State football ticket information click here 
 
THE BEARS 2014 SCHEDULE 
Aug. 30    at Eastern Michigan       6 p.m.
Sept. 6     at Holy Cross                 1 p.m.
Sept. 13   vs. BOWIE STATE       1 p.m.
Sept. 20    vs. HOWARD*%           4 p.m.
Sept. 27    at Norfolk State*           4 p.m.
Oct. 4        at Florida A&M*            5 p.m.
Oct. 11      BYE
Oct. 18      N.C. CENTRAL*@       1 p.m.
Oct. 25      at Villanova                   3:30 p.m.
Nov. 1        at Hampton*                 2 p.m.
Nov. 8        at N.C. A&T                  1 p.m.
Nov. 15     S. CAROLINA STATE*    1 p.m.
Nov. 22    DELAWARE STATE*      1 p.m.

COURTESY MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS

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