Norfolk State earns first MEAC championship after 47-14 win at Morgan State

BALTIMORE, Maryland  --  It took Norfolk State 14 years to put itself in a position to win a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship. It took the Spartans five minutes to clinch it. Norfolk State defeated Morgan State 47-14 Saturday thanks to a 17-point scoring flurry in the first five minutes of the second half.

The win clinches the school's first MEAC championship and earns the Spartans an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. It is the school's first FCS playoff appearance. "I feel great for them," Norfolk State coach Pete Adrian said. "They'll go down in history for the first MEAC title, and that's a great thing."

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Norfolk State led 20-14 at halftime. It looked as though Norfolk State would run away with the game early on, but the Spartans had two drives stall out in the red zone in the first half. Norfolk State (9-2, 7-1 MEAC) struck quickly after the break, though.

Running back Randy Maynes scored on the first play from scrimmage in the quarter, a 56-yard run off right tackle that Maynes cut back for a touchdown. A defensive stop, a 28-yard field goal from kicker Ryan Estep and a Morgan State (5-5, 4-3) fumble on the ensuing kickoff quickly followed.



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NSU cinches MEAC championship with 47-14 victory

BALTIMORE, MD - Randy Maynes took a hand-off on the first play of the second half and handed back history. With Norfolk State leading by six and only one half of football standing between it and the playoffs, Maynes took the first play of the second half and rushed 56 yards up the middle of the Morgan State defense, erasing more than a quarter-century of football failures.

The touchdown, an inside run that Maynes bounced off-tackle, set off an avalanche of points for the Spartans in a 47-14 win over Morgan State (5-5, 4-3) and began a quick transition from close contest to championship celebration.  Maynes' run made the score 27-14 and the Spartans (9-2, 7-1) tacked on 10 more points over the next five minutes, making the fourth quarter a victory march.

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