Bears sloppy but do enough to win

Andrews passes for 197 yards, two touchdowns; Farrier: ‘We’ll take this one’

If you were looking for a beautifully played football game, you wouldn’t have found it at Hughes Stadium at Morgan State on Saturday. But the Bears still got what they wanted.

Morgan State used a timely offense and a bend-but-don’t-break defense to defeat visiting Delaware State, 20-17, in a rainy Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game.

The Bears (2-2, 2-0) overcame 13 penalties for 108 yards.

“At the end of the day it was a win,” Morgan State interim coach Fred T. Farrier said. “There were days when a win with all these mistakes would make me miserable, but we’ll take this one.”

Quarterback Chris Andrews was 16for-31 for 197 yards and two touchdowns for Morgan State. Lamont Brown III led the Bears with 74 rushing yards.

Morgan got on the board first, using a six-play, 64-yard drive on its second possession to take the lead. On first-and-10 at the Morgan 48, Andrews hit Ricky Fisk in stride for a 44-yard completion to take the ball to the Hornets 8. Three plays later, Andrews found Amonta Poteat open in the back of the end zone. After a missed extra-point try, Morgan led 6-0.

Delaware State (0-4, 0-1) responded on the next drive. Running back Brycen Alleyne had 22 of the 51 yards on the drive, but it was freshman Mike Waters who ran the ball in from the 1 to tie the score. Wisdom Nzidee’s extra point gave the Hornets a 7-6 lead.

Delaware State extended its lead to 10-6 on the next possession, when Nzidee made a 28-yard field goal with 12:35 left in the first quarter.

Even though the Morgan State offense looked flat, the Bears began to put things together at the end of the half.

The Morgan defense stopped the Hornets on a fourth-and-1 at the Morgan State 48, then the offense went to work. After two runs by Orlando Johnson gained a combined 27 yards, Andrews found Thomas Martin on a sideline route in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown with 24.7 seconds left in the half. Delaware State Morgan State FIRST QUARTER MGN: Poteat 12 pass from Andrews (kick failed), 7:38. DLS: Waters 1 run (Nzidee kick), 2:09. SECOND QUARTER DLS: FG Wisdom 28, 12:35. MGN: Martin 25 pass from Andrews (run good), :24. THIRD QUARTER MGN: FG Raya 35, 2:30. FOURTH QUARTER MGN: FG Raya 38, 11:17. DLS: Scott 6 pass from Epperson (Nzidee kick), :37. 7 6 3 8 0 3 7 3 — — 17 20 RUSHING: Delaware St., M. Waters 17-96, B.Alleyne 23-73, D.Epperson 9-29. Morgan St., L.Brown III 17-72, O.Johnson 9-66, C.Andrews 5-14, R.Fisk 2-10, E.Harrell 7-7. PASSING: Delaware St., D. Epperson 11-24-0-72. Morgan St., C.Andrews 16-31-0-197. RECEIVING: Delaware St., M. Rutherford 4-35, F.Sua-Godinet 2-23, R.Barrett 1-6, A.Scott 1-6, I.Williams 1-3, K.Black 1-2, B.Alleyne 1-(minus 3). Morgan St., T.Martin 7-86, R.Fisk 4-64, A.Poteat 4-31, L.Spearman 1-1.