Not even a week after receiving their first win of the season, the North Carolina A&T football team suffered their worst lost.

The undefeated Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (8-0, 5-0 MEAC) rushed for 461 yards in a 67-17 rout of the Aggies (1-8, 1-5 MEAC) on Thursday night.

The Wildcats were able to score touchdowns on their first three possessions of the game to take a 20-0 lead in the first quarter and knock the Aggies lights out… literally.

It was at this point, with a little more than three minutes remaining in the first quarter, that lightning struck a generator causing a blackout inside of Municipal Stadium.

The ESPNU-aired game would eventually resume, after an hour and forty minutes of delay time.

The Aggies offense regrouped during this time and scored on their first drive following the delay.

Thanks to two 21-yard rushes by Mike Mayhew, the Aggies moved the ball to the Wildcats’ four-yard-line and Ricky Lewis ran it in for the touchdown.

Unfortunately the lights never came back on for the defense.

Bethune-Cookman finished the first half with 39 points compared to the Aggies 17.

In defense of the defense, 14 of those points came from a short field due to turnovers including an interception thrown by last week’s hero, George Hines.

The reigning MEAC offensive player of the week was unable to match last week’s output against Howard.

He completed just eight of his 22 pass attempts for 74 yards and two interceptions.

The Aggies turned the ball over three other times on fumbles.

Meanwhile the Aggies could only watch as the Wildcats’ scored touchdowns on their first three possessions of the second half as well.

Five turnovers definitely didn’t help the Aggies, but they weren’t the reason Bethune-Cookman was able to score 67 points.

The Aggies defense simply struggled to get off the field against a team that averaged seven yards per carry on the night.

“Our defense didn’t come to play tonight,” said N.C. A&T head coach Alonzo Lee.

“Bethune has a very good offense, they move the ball well. We didn’t give our offense enough opportunities with the ball.”

One bright spot in the game was Mayhew, who had a standout individual performance rushing the ball.

He finished the game with 211 yards on 31 carries and became the sixth Aggie to eclipse the 1000-yards rushing mark in a season. Mayhew will have two more games to add to his MEAC leading 1,042 yards and 7 touchdowns.

The Aggies play both of their remaining games at home, starting with Florida A&M (5-3, 4-1 MEAC) on Saturday at 1:30.  

• Prince Grimes