GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- A determined bunch of FAMU Rattler gridders took on defending Black College National champion North Carolina A&T Saturday at their homecoming game, but fell 42-17 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference bout at a sold out Aggie Stadium..FAMU (3-6, 3-3 MEAC) dueled the top-ranked Aggies (7-1, 5-0 MEAC) gamely in the first half, taking a 10-7 lead on Colby Blanton's 20-yard field goal with 9:21 left in the second quarter.
The Rattlers fell behind, 7-0 late in the first period when heralded Aggie halfback Tarik Cohen scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns from seven yards out with 2:45 left.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Stanley engineered a seven play, 77-yard drive which ended just four seconds into the second period (14:56), when halfback Devin Bowers sliced in from two yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
After Blanton's field goal put the Rattlers ahead 10-7, the Aggies answered with an 11-play, 77-yard drive, capped by Cohen's 19-yard scoring run with 3:56 left, putting A&T ahead for good at 14-10.
The Aggies tacked on a later score with 1:12 left, going 66 yards on three plays in a 40-second span, when Elijah Bell took a Lamar Raynard pass 25 yards for a 21-10 lead with 1:12 to go in the half..
Marquell Cartwright powered in from one yard out with 5:25 left in the third extending the Aggies advantage to 28-10, before Cohen sealed the deal with one of his patented long range gallops late in the third.
Cohen took a pitch to left, racing down the far sideline before breaking into the open, outrunning everyone for an 83-yard TD and a 35-10 Aggie lead with 1:44 left.
Demetrius Fairley ended a 69-yard drive for A&T's final tally, with a 20-yard run with 10:35 left.
Stanley engineered a 77-yard, eight-play drive which resulted in a 15-yard scoring pass to Marcus Williams for the game's final points with 6:30 left.
PHOTO GALLERY
BOX SCORE
GAME NOTES: Cohen's 145-yard effort on Saturday moved him to second on the all-time Black College Football rushing list, leaving him one yard shy of 5,200 yards (5,199)... FAMU QB Ryan Stanley finished Saturday's game with zero turnovers, extending his string of games without a turnover to five.... He finished the day with 211 yards and one score, completing 19 of 34 passes, and he was the Rattlers top rusher with 48 yards on 10 carries... Montavious Williams led the Rattlers eight catches for 98 yards... Freshman corner Terry Jefferson had a pair of pass interceptions for 39 return yards.... Safety Jacques Bryant topped the Rattler tackle charts with eight stops (seven solos).... Defensive stalwart Curtis Alexander missed Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury, although he did appear on the field with the Rattler captains for the pregame coin toss.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Rattlers will get a much-need bye week Nov. 5, before hosting Morgan State (Nov. 12) at 4:00 p.m., then closing the season in Orlando against Bethune-Cookman (Nov. 19 at 2:00 p.m.).
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