CONWAY, S.C. – Whether it is five plays or one, the North
Carolina A&T football team is going to find the group of plays or play
it can run effectively.
Despite making some big plays on Saturday, the N.C. A&T offense never
found the consistency it was looking for in a 28-7 loss to Coastal
Carolina at Brooks Stadium.
Sophomore running back Mike Mayhew led the Aggies with 84 yards rushing
on 11 carries. But through the air, senior Aggie quarterback Carlton Fears threw for 99 yards on 7-for-22 passing and two interceptions.
Freshman quarterback Lewis Kindle threw four passes. He completed one
and had an interception.
“We have to execute better with our quarterbacks,'' said Lee. “Every
time we had a big play tonight, there was a penalty on that play. We
just have to continue fighting. We simplified our offense some this
week, and we're going to simplify it even a little bit more next week.
We're going to keep doing that until we can get the nuts and bolts
squared away.”
Coastal Carolina had something to do with the Aggies woes. The
Chanticleers sacked Fears four times. On the offensive end, Coastal
rushed for 304 yards led by Eric O'Neal's 130 yards on 23 carries. Tommy
Fraser chipped in with 98 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. The
Aggies defense did intercept two passes.
The first pick halted a threatening drive by Coastal in the first
quarter as Quay Long intercepted a Zach MacDowall pass in the end zone.
The second led to the Aggies only score of the game as MacDowall threw a
pass out in the flats only to find senior linebacker Andre Thornton
standing there for the interception at the Aggies 35-yard line.
The Aggies took over at their own 40 and quickly went deep to freshman
receiver Larry Raper for a 51-yard gain to the Chanticleer 9. “At first
I was going in a little too far on my route,'' said Raper. “I knew he
couldn't check me, so I just ran right by him, got to the middle of the
field and beat him deep.”
Raper wasn't done. On the next play, he took the hand-off on an
end-around and scored a 9-yard touchdown to cut the Chanticleers lead to
14-7 midway through the third quarter. The Aggies defense kept the
momentum going by holding the Chanticleers to a three-and-out series to
give the offense the ball back.
Fears' 27-yard run on the Aggies ensuing drive advanced the ball to the
Chanticleer 49 with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter. It was the last
real offensive threat the Aggies made in the game. The next three plays
after Fears' run went for no yardage, forcing an Aggies punt.
The Chanticleers took advantage. On a 3rd-and-3 from their
own 45, MacDowall found Brandon Whitley for a short pass that Whitley
turned into a 55-yard touchdown reception for a 21-7 Chanticleers lead.
Coastal closed out the Aggies with a 39-yard touchdown run by Fraser.
“We're going to go back and focus on our bread and better,'' said Lee.
“Hopefully, we can get better by running our bread and butter.”
Senior safety Nick Clement led the Aggies defensively with a career-high
14 tackles. Junior linebacker Brandon Jackson recorded 12 stops. The
Aggies face arch-rival N.C. Central 6 p.m., Saturday at Aggie Stadium.
