New Britain, Connecticut– Greg McGhee rushed for 80 yards and three touchdowns in the second half to lead Howard University to a 28-25 come-from behind win over Central Connecticut State University in a non-conference game at Arute Field.In the process, McGhee became the all-time career leader in total offense for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The senior from Pittsburgh, PA now has 9,913 yards. The old mark was 9,846 held by former Howard quarterback Ted White from 1994-98.
"It feels good; I am definitely blessed to be in this position I am in. We still have one game, so we will celebrate today and get back to work tomorrow," said McGhee.
With his team trailing, 25-7 early in the third quarter, McGhee began to take over the game. First he capped off a 40-yard drive with a two-yard run with 4:03 in the third quarter.
"We came out slow in the first half and I think we left a lot of points on the table," said Howard Head Coach Gary Harrell. "Twice we were on the goal line in a position to go in for the score and we came up with nothing. We had two field goal opportunities and didn't capitalize on them. So we came into halftime, regrouped, set the score at zero to zero, declared it a new game and made a commitment to come out and win the second half."
After the Bison defense stopped the Blue Devils, McGhee capitalized by capping off a short drive with a 12-yard sprint that cut the deficit to 25-20 to start the fourth quarter. The conversion failed.
The Bison defense, which surrendered big plays all day, again made a key stop on fourth down and paved the way for McGhee to put together the game-winning drive. The senior capped off the 50-yard drive with a seven-yard weaving run that made it, 26-25 with 10:27 still left. McGhee connected with William Parker on the two-point conversion to make it 28-25. But Central Connecticut State, which amassed almost 500 yards of offense, still had time.
"As far as adjustments, we said we had to eliminate the big plays that happened in the first half," said Howard linebacker Devin Rollins, who had 11 tackles. "That's what killed us, those big plays. We made a conscious effort to get off the field on third and fourth downs and that was the key to the second half. We have a number of people playing positions that they don't usually play but they stepped up and hung in there."
The Blue Devils were able to move the ball, it when it mattered, the Bison defense came up big when cornerback Kenneth Russ broke up a pass intended for Tyrell Holmes that turned the ball over on downs to the bison.
From there, McGhee displayed the poise and leadership that has been his trademark during his four-year career. Mixing up plays with Parker (93 yards on 18 carries), Howard was able to pick up three first downs and run out the clock to its third straight game.
"Greg came out and made some key plays in the second half," noted Harrell. "I think he trusted his teammates a little too much in the first half and wanted them to make more plays. In the second half he came out got more aggressive and made the plays when we needed them."
McGhee rushed for 119 yards and three TDs and was 15 of 33 passing for 216 yards and a TD.
Defensively, Ghafona Iduwe (11 tackles), Devin Rollins (11 tackles), Khari Brown (8 tackles) and Kenneth Russ (6 tackles) all came up big in the second half during the comeback.
Central Connecticut State received a game-high 124 yards rushing yards and 1909 yards receiving and a TD from Rob Holloway and 20 of 28 passing for 279 yards and three TDs from Nick Sangiacomo in a losing effort.
The Bison close out the season next Saturday when they host rival Hampton University at 12:30 pm in Greene Stadium. It will be senior day for McGhee, Malcolm Rutledge, Richard Aiyegoro, Khari Brown and Stewart Hartman will be playing their last home game in a Bison uniform.
"Hampton is a tough team; they have a good solid quarterback who we have to contain," explained Harrell. "You can throw out the records and the prior wins. This game is all about pride and the reputation of both universities. WE want to come out and represent the university well. We've been successful three straight years; we want to keep that winning streak going and continue to give our alumni the bragging rights for another 365 days."
"We got one more week, then it's our senior game. Like I said, we will celebrate toGreg McGhee.
day and we're back to business tomorrow," said
COURTESY HOWARD UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS
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