Duke Pulls Away from NCCU in Second Half

DURHAM, North Carolina – North Carolina Central University was within one score of its ACC foe late in the second quarter, but Duke University pulled away from the Eagles after halftime for a 55-13 victory in the seventh edition of the Bull City Gridiron Classic at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Duke started the game off with a quick scoring drive with quarterback Quentin Harris throwing a touchdown pass to Davis Koppenhaver.

On the ensuing kickoff, Duke kicker Collin Wareham kicked and recovered an onside kick. That drive was then capped off by a 15-yard rushing touchdown by Harris making the score 13-0 before an NCCU offensive snap.

Harris threw another touchdown for the Blue Devils, this time to running back Brittain Brown pushing the Duke lead to 20-0 at 6:10 of the first quarter.

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NCCU's offense started slowly, but gained momentum with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown by running back Isaiah Totten.

The Eagles defense also generated some momentum when a Harris fumble was scooped up and returned 55 yards for a touchdown by NCCU defensive back Jordan McRae, trimming the Blue Devils lead to 20-13 with 12:26 remaining in the opening half.

The NCCU defense was stubborn, making fourth down stops on back-to-back Duke drives. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they were not able to turn either stop into points.

Late in the half, Harris connected with Johnathan Lloyd for another Duke touchdown, making the score 27-13 at the intermission.

The second half was all Blue Devils. Duke scored three touchdowns in the third quarter and one in the fourth. The Eagles were unable to find the end zone in the final 30 minutes.

For NCCU, quarterback Naiil Ramadan threw for 51 yards on 6-of-15 passing attempts. Chauncey Caldwell and Dominique Shoffner also took snaps for the Eagles in the second half.

The running game worked well for the Eagles. Totten managed to rush for 88 yards on 12 carries, averaging 7.3 yards per carry with a long run of 59 yards. Tyquan Watson and Jordan Freeman also added a combined 39 yards on the ground for NCCU.

Defensively, the Eagles were led in tackles by Davanta Reynolds with nine. Darius Royster and King Kiaku finished with eight tackles each for NCCU, while Daejon Weeks contributed seven takedowns and forced a fumble.

For Duke, Harris finished the game with 202 yards passing and three touchdowns through the air, along with a rushing touchdown. Chris Katrenick added 54 yards and another touchdown for the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils rushing attack was led by Brown with 118 yards on 13 attempts. Also, Deon Jackson finished the game with 96 yards on 20 carries.

NCCU (1-2) returns home to play Florida A&M next Saturday (Sept. 29) in its first conference game of the season. Duke (4-0) hosts Virginia Tech.



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