Washington, DC —- Terrence Leffall rushed for a career-high 182 yards and two touchdowns to lead Howard University to a 20-10 win over Hampton University in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at Greene Stadium. The win improves the Bison's record to 6-3 and 5-2 in the MEAC while the Pirates fall to 2-6 and 2-4 in the MEAC.
Both teams got off to a slow start as the winds and defenses dictated the early flow of the game. The Bison offense finally got some rhythm as the offensive line and Leffall began to have some success. With the 5-10, 210-pound senior finding gapping holes in the middle of the Pirates defense, Howard got on the board first following a 74-yard, 11-play drive that was capped off by a junior quarterback Randy Liggins' six-yard run after a beautiful play fake to Leffall. The conversion attempt failed and the Bison led, 6-0 with just 50 seconds left in the first quarter.
Liggins started for McGhee and had an efficient game, completing 6 of 12 passes for 58 yards and adding 27 yards rushing and a TD.
"I found out late in the week that I would start," explained Liggins, who has yet to throw an interception this season.
"We preach execution and ball control. The line did a great job today in protection and creating running lanes."
Added Howard head coach Gary Harrell, "We came out old fashion by establishing the run." "Randy did a good job and was able to get us in control of the game."
Both teams had opportunities in the second quarter but potential scoring drives were aborted due to missed opportunities. Howard was finally able to capitalize when freshman defensive lineman Damon Gresham Chisholm forced and recovered a fumble at the Pirates 15-yard line. It took Howard three plays with Leffall bolted in from 18 yards out to make it, 13-0 Howard with 4:23 left in the second quarter.
The Pirates responded by mounting a 10-play, 69-yard drive, but the Howard defense forced the visitors to settle for a 23-yard Taurean Durham field goal to make it 13-3 at the half.
Hampton used the momentum to narrow the deficit to 13-10 early in the third quarter when freshman quarterback Brian Swain finished off a 70-yard drive with a 33-yard scamper up the middle.
"Our defense has to be able to get off the field on third and fourth downs," lamented Harrell. "We have had problems in that area and we have to get better."
Both teams held serve through the rest of the game until sophomore quarterback Greg McGhee engineered a 12-play, 72-yard drive that was capped off with an eight-yard run by Leffall, his second of the day.
That was all that the Bison defense needed as it shut down the Hampton offense to preserve the win.
Leffall, who set a school record for carries with 42 in last year's win over Hampton, has now rushed for over 100 yards in each of the games in which he has played this season.
"We followed the game plan," said Leffall. "They trusted me with the ball to win the game today. The offensive line did a great job. It makes my job easy when they block like that."
The Bison defense was led by junior safety Julien David, who tallied 9 tackles, junior linebacker Tabrian Resby, who had 8, and Gresham Chisholm, who finished with four tackles, 3 for losses, 3 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Hampton was led on offense by freshman quarterback Brian Swain, who led his team with 105 yards rushing and was 13 of 23 passing for 91 yards.
GAME NOTES: The win insures that Howard will record its first winning season since 2004…the Bison defense forced 5 Pirate fumbles and recovered two…the offense topped the 200-yard mark for the fifth straight game.
NEXT UP: The Bison travel to Statesboro, Ga to take on the Number 1 ranked team in the FCS, Georgia Southern next Saturday at 2 pm.
COURTESY HOWARD UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
No comments:
Post a Comment