After a week off, the Aggies football team was anxious to avenge
themselves on their home field after getting blown two weeks
earlier by Appalachian State.
After a week off, the Aggies football team was anxious to avenge themselves on their home field after getting blown two weeks earlier by Appalachian State.
In the first quarter, Grant Clayton’s 40-yard field goal at 3rd and long gave the Chanticleers a 3-0 lead and that would be the only score of the first quarter. Both teams were unable to get into their offensive rhythm and were forced to punt after almost every third down.
The second quarter was a different story for Coastal Carolina’s offense. The Chanticleers had three consecutive first downs with less than nine minutes left in the half.
Coastal Carolina scored two touchdowns in the last six minutes of the half. Quarterback Lewis Kindle and the rest of the Aggie offense still could not manage to execute a big play.
Wallace Miles, standout wide receiver, now second on A&T’s all-time receptions list, only had two receptions in the first half and those were in the first quarter. A&T went into the locker room scoreless. The Chanticleers led 24-0 at halftime.
In the second half, the Aggies had possession of the ball for the majority of the 3rd quarter.
A&T slowly moved its way up the field on a 17-play drive. In the red zone, Kindle connected with an open Miles for a six-yard completion to finally put the Aggies on the scoreboard. The Aggies still trailed 24-7.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Coastal was again forced to punt early and A&T’s drive started 15 seconds into the quarter. The Aggies yet again could not capitalize off the mistakes of Coastal Carolina and decided to punt at 3rd and nine.
Fortunately for the Aggies, Skyler Thomas’s 33 yard punt to the Coastal 20 was fumbled by Niccolo Mastromatteo and recovered by A&T’s Travis Crosby to put the Aggies in good field position.
In Coastal territory, the first play of the drive was a 10 yard pass from quarterback Lewis Kindle to Wallace Miles that put the Aggies at 1st and goal. A Mike Mayhew nine-yard rush put the Aggies within one yard of the end zone, and Kindle carried the ball in for a touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak that cut the score to 24-14.
Coastal crushed the hopes of A&T after Hazel’s 33 yard touchdown reception that shut out the Aggies 31-14 in a quick 58 second four play drive.
“We gave seven points in the first half to the blocked punt…it really changed the momentum of the game,” said Kindle.
Kindle was called for intentional grounding twice that caused the Aggies to lose a total of 20 yards. “We don’t have continuity on our offensive line,” said Kindle as he continued to explain why the Aggies could not seem to execute their offense. The Aggies received word that they would have to play without offensive lineman, Alex Harper, due to ineligibility reasons. Kindle also threw one interception.
“We knew what they wanted to do. We just couldn’t accomplish it on third down,” said D’Vonte Grant, sophomore linebacker. Grant recorded 12 tackles for the afternoon.
- Karmen Robinson, Sports Editor