For the North Carolina A&T football team, the passing game has been the difference between a win and a loss this season.

They’ve struggled to find it all year in clutch situations – but could not have found it on a better night than against archrival North Carolina Central Saturday.

Senior Carlton Fears hit sophomore Wallace Miles for a 24-yard touchdown in double overtime giving the Aggies a 23-17 victory that snapped a three-game losing streak.Miles was all smiles after the game after his leaping touchdown that is now a part of Aggie-Eagle Classic history.

“I don’t think I’ll ever, ever have a feeling like that again,” said Miles.

“It looked like they were in man coverage,” said Miles, who caught four passes for a career-high 101 yards and two touchdowns.

“I just ran my route like (wide receiver coach Marshal Glenn) taught us. I came across the middle and Carlton put the ball right there.  My man (Aggies receiver) Larry Raper came in and made a beautiful block for me so I could get into the end zone.”

It was the third straight time the game came down to a dramatic final drive between these two teams, but the first that any of the Aggie players have been able to celebrate in the winner’s column.

“My biggest thing [was], we gotta do this for the seniors,” said Lee about the victory.

“The seniors have never won this game. So this was the senior’s way of going out as a winner in this rival. And that was pretty much our pre-game to go out with a win for our seniors.”

With the passing game displaying inconsistency throughout the season, Aggies head coach Alonzo Lee understood that they would have simplify their game plan in order for them to find a steady flow in the air.

And the blue and gold had a season’s best with Fears finishing 8-for-20 for 166 yards in the air as he found a way to execute when it mattered most.

Fears connected with senior wide receiver Giorgio Lowrance with just under a minute and a half in regulation placing the Aggies in field goal range with the score tied at 17-17. After freshman kicker Patrick Courtney missed a game clinching 37-yard field goal for his second miss of the game, Fears knew the offense would have to capitalize in overtime.

“He’s a young freshman and sometimes you can’t put that type of pressure on a young freshman kicker,” Fears said. “So as an offense you know – we knew we had to get it in that time.”

“But we still believe in him. He’s part of the team. We’re not going to cast him off or anything. We just gotta work harder.”

The Aggies kicking game was not the only thing that almost led to the Aggies letting the game slip away.

The team had 14 penalties for 110 yards – some coming at crucial times in the game.

A 15-yard facemask foul was called in the first overtime that set up the Eagles to attempt a game-winning 27-yard chip shot field goal.

Jackson’s senior teammate Jarrell Herring bailed him out after blocking kicker Franki Cardelle’s field goal sending the game to the second overtime.

“I just imposed my will on him,” Herring said about the block.  “I wasn’t going let him make it.”

The game may not have seemed money-worthy for Aggie-Eagle Classic fans at the opening kickoff.

The Aggies started the game with a vengance, scoring 17 non-answered points in less than a quarter.Lee credited the early start as a direct effect of the series tradition and emotion surrounding their season thus far and would like to see his guys finish off teams.”It didn’t take a whole lot firing guys up to get ready for it”, Lee said.”It dates back to the 60’s and before that. It’s no doubt we wanted this game and needed this game. But we still gotta learn how to crush people when we got them down.”Central had two big plays that got them back in the game that both involved wide receiver Will Scott.He had a 67-yard reception from quarterback Keon Williams that set up a 2-yard touchdown catch for Sae Abdul Azzez that decreased the margin 17-7 at halftime, and later caught another Williams pass for a 73-yard touchdown cutting the lead to 17-14.But eventually the Aggies were able to take Scott out the game after regulation.”We realized that 83 was their guy and we definitely kept our eyes on wherever he went,” Lee said.The Aggies will try to continue their heroic efforts Saturday when they visit Morgan State at their homecoming.”We’re going back into the conference race and got a great opportunity, ” said Lee. “We wanna take it game-by-game – continuing to execute.”

• Daniel Henderson