WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The narrative keeps changing for the North Carolina A&T football team in a good way. On Saturday in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) action at Zable Stadium against the William & Mary Tribe, the Aggies forced turnovers, ran the football effectively, started strong, and held a significant lead, all while receiving excellent quarterback play from redshirt sophomore Kevin White.
Unfortunately, the Aggies are having trouble changing the narrative where it counts most – the scoreboard. A&T dropped to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the CAA after William & Mary secured a come-from-behind 38-34 win over the Aggies.
For the second straight week, the Aggies drove the ball deep into their opponent's territory late in the game with a chance to win, but failed to score. Last week in Maine, the Aggies moved the ball to the Black Bears 22-yard line before running out of time. On Saturday, the Aggies had the ball first-and-goal at the Tribe 5-yard line with 5 ½ minutes remaining in the game.
Three straight running plays to graduate running back Wesley Graves got the ball to W&M 3 before redshirt quarterback Kevin White rolled left on fourth down but could not find an open receiver, ultimately getting sacked and giving the Tribe the ball back on a turnover on downs with 2:49 remaining in the ballgame. It was a disappointing end to a drive that went 15 plays and devoured 8 ½ minutes off the clock.
"We wanted to drain the clock," said White. "We felt like we were doing a good job of moving the ball by running the ball. We wanted to punch it in and not give them a lot of time to try to score against us. We trusted our defense the entire game, so we wanted to do as much as we could to help them."
A&T still had the Tribe backed up to its own 5. The Aggies also still had two timeouts and the two-minute timeout remaining. The game came down to a 3rd-and-1 from the W&M 25. Tribe quarterback Tyler Hughes rolled to his right and threw an interception into the arms of A&T graduate cornerback Aaron Harris. Harris returned the pick 10 yards to the W&M 25. Before the snap, however, the Aggies were penalized for jumping offside, nullifying Harris's interception. The penalty gave the Tribe the ball back with 61 seconds remaining in the game. With the Aggies having zero timeouts remaining, the Tribe ran the clock out with two kneel-downs.
"I see a lot of progress. The guys fought, but we didn't find a way to win in the end. Period. Point blank," said A&T head coach Shawn Gibbs. "We went for it on fourth down trying to win the game, and we didn't get it done."
Prior to that fourth-down play, the Aggies did get a lot done. Their 34 points are a season-high and the most points the Aggies have scored on the road since posting 38 points at Robert Morris on October 22, 2022. A&T had not rushed for more than 150 yards over its previous two games. The Aggies ran for 157 yards on Saturday, led by graduate running back Wesley Graves's 93 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. In addition, the Aggies possessed the ball for nearly 40 minutes and converted 8 of 17 third downs.
White played an incredibly efficient ballgame, completing 20 of 28 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown. He completed six of his passes to sophomore Jayvonne Dillard, who had 72 yards receiving and a touchdown. A&T had its moments defensively as well. The Aggies forced only two turnovers all season, going into Saturday's game.
They forced two on Saturday, both caused by freshman cornerback Tyler Howard. Howard had an interception in the first quarter and forced a fumble in the third, leading to an A&T field goal. And what about those slow starts that were such a concern over the first five weeks? Well, the Aggies had 17 points with 11:32 remaining in the first half. The only thing preventing the Aggies from having a 17-0 lead was a bad snap on a first-quarter punt that led to a scoop and score by the Tribe.
A&T led 24-14 at halftime thanks to a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard TD run from White. The Aggies took their biggest lead of the game after Howard's forced fumble on a Tribe reverse play led to the Aggies getting the ball at the W&M 24 after graduate defensive end Tim Alderman returned the fumble six yards. Four plays later, graduate kicker Andrew Brown booted his second field goal of the game, a 42-yarder to give the Aggies a 34-21 advantage.
But the Tribe scored the final 17 points of the game, including a 2-yard rushing TD from Rashad Raymond that gave the Tribe its first lead of the game at 38-34 with 11:15 remaining in the game. Raymond led the Tribe with 124 yards rushing and a touchdown on 14 carries. Even with all the progress displayed on Saturday, explosive plays may still be a concern heading into next week's homecoming contest at Truist Stadium against South Carolina State at 1 p.m. A&T surrendered seven plays of 20 yards or more.
"We played a great game throughout all four quarters," said White. "But in the end, we just have to finish as a team – offense, defense and special teams. We have to put points on the board in big moments and get defensive stops."
