Sunday, September 6, 2009

North Carolina A&T 19, Winston Salem State 10

Aggies start Lee era with statement win

Alonzo Lee built a reputation as an aggressive defensive coordinator in 12 seasons coaching in the MEAC. Turns out Alonzo Lee the head coach is even more aggressive. Senior quarterback Carlton Fears passed for 131 yards and ran for 78 and a touchdown to lead N.C. A&T's offense during a 19-10 victory over Winston-Salem State in Lee's debut as the Aggies' head coach Saturday night at Bowman Gray Stadium. It wasn't that close.

The Aggies' offense left some scoring chances on the field. They missed a field-goal attempt, saw another field-goal try blocked, got stopped on a fourth-and-3 gamble at the 8 and let the first-half clock run out 2 yards short of the end zone. "I thought we moved the ball well, but we've got to get better in the red zone," Lee said. "We were in the red zone too many times where we did not come up with points. We've got to work on it. We're going to go back to the drawing board and find our best red-zone plays and get better." On this night, the Aggies didn't need those points because their defense was flat-out dominant. A&T grudgingly surrendered just 90 total yards, had four sacks and recovered two fumbles.

Photo Gallery: N.C. A&T 19, Winston-Salem State 10

Aggies beat Rams 19-10

N.C. A&T won the backyard battle with Winston-Salem State, mainly because it had fewer mistakes. The Aggies won 19-10 in front of a sellout crowd of 22,000 at Bowman Gray Stadium. Coach Alonzo Lee of the Aggies, making his debut, built his reputation on defense as an assistant coach. That trait has carried over because the Aggies held the offensive-stagnant Rams to just 90 yards. The Rams' defense, spending way too much time on the field, tired in the fourth quarter and the Aggies took advantage. Coach Kermit Blount of the Rams summed it up best: "The bottom line is we can't turn the ball over and we can't keep our defense out there as long as we did."

The game was tied at 10 going into the fourth quarter, but the momentum swung toward the Aggies after a bad snap on a punt by long-snapper Rodney Taylor of the Rams. Pinned deep in their own territory punter Landon Thayer had to fall on a bad snap that nearly sailed all the way over his head. The Aggies took over on the Rams' 10 and after the defense held again; freshman place-kicker Patrick Courtney made a 25-yard field goal for a 13-10 lead with 7:54 left. The way the Rams' offense was going, the field goal was enough.

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