If there were a game the Morgan State Bears had to win it would have been the homecoming of Morgan’s 150th year. Morgan Alumni, young and elderly, packed Hughes Stadium to see their Bears get their first win of the season as they defeated Savannah State 48-28.
After losing three non-conference games and dropping two MEAC games, the Bears played effectively on both sides of the ball to pull out the homecoming victory. “It feels good,” said Bears quarterback Elijah Staley. “We’ve been working hard and we knew things would start clicking.”
Savannah State would draw first blood when running back Uriah Oliver took a screen pass 83 yards to the end zone on the Tigers first possession of the game.
Morgan would respond on their second possession when junior running back Eric Harrell snuck in from the one yard line to tie the game up at seven.
The strength of the Bears team this year has been the defense. The Bears D came up with a fumble recovery on the Tiger’s 26 yard line in the first quarter. The Bears offense would take advantage of the turnover when Staley tossed the ball to Amonta Poteat for a 21 yard touchdown giving Morgan a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.
It’s hard to imagine in the first three weeks Morgan State failed to reach the end zone because the Bears are starting to find the end zone more frequently. Morgan scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter against the Tigers. “We made less mistakes and we capitalized off of some of the opportunities and our guys just played better,” said Bears coach Fred T. Farrier.
After the game coach Farrier walked his team to Morgan’s new Legends Plaza outside of the stadium where two statues of Morgan’s most famous coaches, Edward Hurt and Earl Banks were introduced during homecoming week. “Every game for now on we’ll walk through and touch the statues,” said coach Farrier.
The Bears will travel to D.C. to take on Howard for their homecoming October 21. They return home October 28 to play Florida A&M University.