ATLANTA, Georgia — A year ago, poor special teams’ play proved critical in a 17-7 loss to North Carolina A&T which ended South Carolina State’s streak of consecutive winning seasons.Saturday at the Georgia Dome, key plays by the special teams sparked a second-half surge by the Bulldogs which ended the Aggies’ 7-game winning streak in a 29-24 victory at the 25th annual Atlanta Football Classic.
Trailing 17-14 in the third quarter, the Bulldogs (4-2, 2-0) scored 15 unanswered points to claim their fourth straight win. It started with a blocked punt by Darius Drummond which resulted in a safety and a career-long 49-yard field goal by Nick Belcher which put S.C. State ahead for good.
Quarterback Richard Cue added a 65-yard touchdown pass to Tyler McDonald in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring run. The Florence native finished 17-28 for 236 yards and two touchdowns to carry the offense which had its difficulties running the football.
“They were great in defending the run,” S.C. State head football coach Buddy Pough said. “We knew that and felt that we would have to throw the ball to have a chance at winning. Richard (Cue) had one of his better games throwing the ball and the receivers made some plays.”
N.C. A&T (3-1, 1-1) made a late push with less than three minutes left following a touchdown pass by quarterback Lewis Kindle to Desmond Lawrence. They drove the football to the S.C. State 33 before the Bulldogs’ defense got a sack from Andrew Carter and deflected away three straight downfield passes to force a turnover on downs with 1:05 left.
2013 Atlanta Football Classic Photo Gallery
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