The Aggies defeated the Morgan State Bears 24-3 in their first

conference game of the year in Baltimore on Oct. 1. 

The Aggies defeated the Morgan State Bears 24-3 in their first conference game of the year in Baltimore on Oct. 1. 

The Aggies (2-2) record marks improvement from last season’s (1-10) overall record.

“Our players got to experience the sweet taste of victory,” said A&T head coach Rod Broadway.

The Aggies defense proved that they were capable of getting stops and creating turnovers and the offense certainly got the job done as they posted 24 points against a tenacious defense. 

Early in the game the Aggies began to dig themselves into a hole with a Lewis Kindle interception on the first play of the game. 

Following the interception, the Bears scored their only points of the game on a 43-yard Ervin Gonzalez field goal, giving them a 3-0 lead.

The Aggies and Bears struggled to produce any significant yardage in the next few drives. 

The Aggies last drive of the first quarter was capped when a sharp cut at the line of scrimmage allowed running back Mike Mayhew to use his speed to gain 78-yards on his way to the end zone. 

 Aggies held a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

An early second quarter Bear’s fourth down attempt proved to be unwise as the Aggies’ Chris Neal stopped running back Brian Mann in his tracks for no gain.  A 28-yard pass from Kindle to wide-receiver Larry Raper on the following drive set up a Jose Garcia-Camacho field goal for the Aggies.

Safety Justin Ferrell and cornerback Terrance Webb displayed great speed and anticipation as they both blocked first half field goal attempts by the Bear’s Gonzalez.

Later in the quarter, a tight Kindle to Raper spiral resulted in a 47-yard touchdown.

Ferrell once again blocked a desperate 50-yard end of half field goal attempt by the Bears’ Gonzalez. The Aggies held a solid 17-3 lead at the half.

The aggressive defensive play continued into the fourth when linebacker Brandon Hoover displayed soft hands and downhill speed as he intercepted and returned a Seth Higgins pass to the Bear’s 3-yard line. 

After the Aggies offense stalled on fourth down at the Morgan State 12-yard line, Higgins’ day only got worse when safety Ferrell forced another turnover with a timely interception.

The scoring ended when the Aggies capitalized with a 26-yard catch by Ricky Lewis on the next Aggie drive, setting up a short touchdown run for Kindle.

The Aggie defensive unit caused havoc for the Bears offense holding them to a mere 202 total yards. 

The Aggies sacked freshman quarterback Higgins three times and baited him into two costly interceptions.

 The Aggies run defense proved the Bear’s running game non-existent as they compiled only 33 total rushing yards. 

“The defensive line held their own and the linebackers stepped up this week,” said Ferrell.

Offensively the Aggies relied heavily upon the 2010 First Team All-MEAC running back Mike Mayhew.  Gaining a career-high, 233 rushing yards, Mayhew was able to create more yardage on the ground than the Bears total offense and recorded his first touchdown of the season.

Mayhew displayed an amazing arsenal of evasive juke moves and powerful runs. 

After a slow start, Kindle finished the game with 10 of 21 passing, with an interception and a touchdown.  Surprisingly, Kindle did not connect with his leading receiver Wallace Miles during the game. 

Head coach Rod Broadway commented on the performance of Wallace Miles by saying, “he [Miles] is one of those guys who doesn’t have to have the ball in his hands to make plays, he contributes in a lot of ways.”

Kindle’s game management and leadership skills helped the Aggies get their second win of the season.

The North Carolina A&T Aggies (2-2) will attempt to get their second straight conference win against Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (2-2) on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Aggie Stadium.

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• Kalyn Hoyle, Contributor