GREENSBORO – A recurring problem occurred during the 2009 North Carolina A&T football season. The Aggies kicking game became a chief concern and glaring weakness as the season matured. There were no touchdowns scored in the Aggies annual Blue vs. Gold Game played Saturday afternoon in front of an outstanding crowd assembled at Aggie Stadium.

But touchdowns will come in the fall. The good news is the Aggies answered a lot of questions about what was a fractured kicking game thanks to two Patrick Courtney field goals that led Aggie Blue to a 6-0 win over the Gold.

“He was a 100 percent today,” said head football coach Alonzo Lee. “But we understood all along there were things there holding him back. He doesn't have any hernia problems this year. He was able to get stronger this off-season, and he had a little more time to get better.”

Lee said Courtney was hurt throughout summer camp. The Aggies coaching staff thought that would not be an issue because they still had veteran kicker Eric Houston. But when Houston was not able to play, Courtney was pressed into action without any repetitions before the start of the '09 season. It resulted in him hitting just 4 of 12 field goals.

The lack of success in the kicking game put the Aggies in some uncomfortable situations once the offense slowed down inside the opponent's 30-yard line. When the offense bogged down on Saturday, Courtney came through.

After an Aggie Gold turnover in the first quarter gave Blue the ball at the Gold 20, a 12-yard pass from Lewis Kindle to Larry Raper gave Blue a first-and-goal at the 5. But an unsportsmanlike penalty moved the ball back to the 20. The penalty forced Blue to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Courtney.

Blue's next threat didn't come until the fourth quarter. Kindle connected with Buster Cooper for a 48-yard completion. A 12-yard run by Dontavious Payne moved the ball to the Gold 8. But back-to-back sacks led to a 37-yard field goal by Courtney.

“We had to put him in the fire without him being ready,'' Lee said about Courtney's 2009 season. “I'm looking forward to him doing some great things. We've got some guys coming in that are going to pressure him. But he stepped up today.”

While Courtney assisted the Blue offense, the day definitely belonged to the two defenses. Brandon Hover led Blue's defense with six tackles, while middle linebacker Brandon Jackson finished with five stops.

Ben Binder was the defensive star of the game, however. He was hurt all last season, but he looked unstoppable on Saturday. He made seven tackles, including four sacks. Tony Clodfelter finished with five tackles.

“He is a young man who runs like a deer,'' said Lee about Binder. “He's definitely that guy you want coming off the edge. He is the type of linebacker you want to have because he is about 6-3 ½ and gets into the flats area early. With his size, he is going to make it tough for that quarterback to get the ball out on that curl pattern.”

Despite the two dominating defenses, there was some offense. Gold's Dominique Drake carried the ball four times for 34 yards, including a 17-yard run. Terrence Webb, who made his transition back to quarterback after being moved from quarterback to defensive back, lined up at wide receiver and caught a 31-yard pass from Gold's Shelton Morgan.

“He is a great athlete so you might see him in a number of places,'' said Lee about Webb. “We're going to use him where needed because he is such a tremendous athlete. But he's really been pushing Kindle in practice at the quarterback position.”

Despite Gold's gains on offense, it was hampered by three turnovers including a fourth-quarter interception by Blue's Marques Sutton. Blue's offense was led by Kindle who completed 6 of 12 passes for 111 yards. Cooper made two of those catches for 78 yards. Payne finished with seven carries and 29 yards.

“As we look offensively, I think we did a good job,'' said Lee. “But I think we could have done a better job of getting the ball into the hands of our playmakers.”

“Defensively, we played well on both sides,'' Lee added. “Our Blue team gave up a play or two here and there, but I think the enthusiasm the Gold (second team defense) came with prompted the Blue team to play with some fire. Our defenses were running to the ball, and I didn't see a whole lot of assignment errors.”

The Aggies will report to camp in August. The season begins Sept. 4 when the Aggies host arch-rival Winston-Salem State at 6 p.m.