ATLANTA – A controversial failed two-point conversion attempt ended up being the difference Saturday as the Alcorn State University football program nearly erased a 17-3 deficit, but fell 24-22 to North Carolina A&T in the 2018 Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Alcorn (9-4, 6-1 SWAC) trailed 24-16 when junior
Noah Johnson electrified the stadium with a 59-yard touchdown run through the middle to pull the Braves within two points of NC A&T (10-2, 6-1 MEAC) in the fourth quarter.
On the point-after attempt, Johnson connected with junior
Chris Blair along the right side of the endzone as he caught the ball and dragged a foot inbounds. However, the play was ruled incomplete and was upheld after a replay review.
After the game, SWAC Coach of the Year
Fred McNair said he was not given an explanation as to why it was ruled incomplete.
For the contest, the Braves outgained the Aggies 451-324 in total offense including a large advantage of 328-38 on the ground. Junior
De'Shawn Waller, the SWAC Newcomer of the Year, rushed for a game-high 167 yards.
Junior quarterback
Noah Johnson, the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year winner, ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw for 128 yards, including five completions and 75 yards to freshman Juan Anthony.
Alcorn's offensive line, which included three HBCU All-Americans in senior
Chris McCrea, junior
Kevin Hall and junior
Mustaffa Ibrahim, did not allow a sack. All three were honored on the All-Conference First-Team, and junior
Deonte Brooks on the All-Conference Second-Team.
With three made field goals in the game, junior
Corey McCullough tied the all-time school record with 34 in his career. He has one season remaining to pull ahead of Wilfredo Rosales who made 34 field goals from 1977-80. Additionally, McCullough tied his own single-season school record of 17 made field goals this year.
Defensively, junior
Brelion Hollis stood out with a game-high 10 tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss. Senior
Brady Smith registered an interception to go along with five tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss.
NC A&T was led by quarterback Lamar Raynard who threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns. He found Zachary Leslie six times for 119 yards and a score. Richie Kittle recorded a team-high nine tackles and 4.0 tackles for a loss on defense.
The Aggies got on the board on their opening series to take an early 7-0 lead. The big play was a 45-yard screen pass to Marquell Cartwright on 3rd-and-5. NC A&T scored on a 17-yard pass to Leslie over the middle.
Alcorn marched down the field 84 yards on its second drive, but settled for a 29-yard field goal by McCullough which cut the deficit to 7-3 with 2:52 left. The series included catches of 17 and 16 yards, respectively by Anthony, and a 21-yard rush to the right by Blair. Alcorn got to the NC A&T 14 before three straight rushes came up short to stall the drive.
The first turnover of the game went NC A&T's way in the second quarter after Timadre Abram cut in-front of an intended receiver for an interception on third down. Abram returned it 21 yards to set the Aggies up with great field position at the Alcorn 27. The Braves defense stood strong though, forcing a pair of incomplete passes and held the Aggies to a 29-yard field goal. NC A&T led 10-3 with 8:33 remaining in the half.
Late in the half, the Aggies added-on with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Bell which gave them a 17-3 edge. Bell caught three passes for 47 yards on the six-play series.
The Braves took over with 53 seconds left in the half. They quickly moved the ball down field after a 13-yard scramble by Johnson and two 14-yard grabs by Blair. A 25-yard catch by Anthony over the middle moved the ball to the NC A&T 8, and the Braves spiked it with four seconds left. McCullough knocked in a 25-yard field goal as time expired as Alcorn trailed 17-6 at the break.
On NC A&T's first drive of the second half, a deep route was picked off by Smith at the Alcorn 31 on a 2nd-and-4 play.
However, the Braves couldn't take advantage of the turnover and punted it back to the Aggies 16.
On the ensuing Aggies series, a 44-yard pass to Leslie on a quarterback roll-out to the right setup the Aggies at the Alcorn 9. The Braves defense held them to a 25-yard field goal attempt but it was botched, resulting in no points after the snap couldn't be properly handled.
NC A&T's special teams miscue created a spark as Waller took a hand-off and darted 48 yards up the middle to the NC A&T 30. Alcorn scored on a 30-yard quarterback-keeper as Johnson took off down the right sideline. It trimmed the deficit to 17-13 with 4:29 to go in the third.
The Braves got the ball back after a three-and-out, and Waller took off on the first play for 55 yards down the left side to the NC A&T 11. It resulted in a 29-yard field goal by McCullough as Alcorn was down 17-16 late in the third.
NC A&T answered with a 79-yard kick return touchdown by Malik Wilson which pushed the Aggies lead back up to 24-16 with 38 seconds left in the quarter.
The Braves responded with a big 59-yard touchdown run by Johnson as he sped through the center and outran the secondary. The Braves trailed 24-22 with 11:55 left after the missed two-point conversion.
After a defensive stand, Alcorn got the ball back with 7:39 remaining. The Braves moved the chains once, but were forced to punt with 5:55 left.
Alcorn was never able to get the ball back as the Aggies were able to run out the clock with four first downs. The Braves last chance defensively came on a 3rd-and-11 for the Aggies, but Raynard found Isaiah Hicklin open for 14 yards.
Saturday's game wrapped-up the 2018 season for both teams. Alcorn won its 16th conference championship in school history and third in the last five years. The Braves will enter the 2019 season as the five-time defending SWAC East Division champions.
NOTES
- Alcorn dropped to 1-2 all-time against North Carolina A&T. Both losses came in the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl as the Aggies took the inaugural matchup 41-35 in 2015.
- The Braves outscored the Aggies 6-0 in the fourth quarter. On the season, Alcorn outscored the opposition 102-42 in the final quarter.
- Alcorn entered the game leading the nation in tackles for a loss per game with 9.3. It tallied 13.0 tackles for a loss and 13 different student-athletes recorded at least 0.5.
- The Braves were the SWAC's top rushing team all season with 282.3 yards per game. The average will go up after running for 328 yards Saturday. Alcorn also led the conference in total yards with 475.2 per outing.
- Johnson will enter 2019 ranked top-five all-time in school history in passing completions (337), eighth in passing yards (4,108), eighth in touchdown passes (30) and 10th in rushing yards (1,867). Johnson entered the match ranked top-five in the country in rushing yards per carry (7.4) and averaged 8.6 in the game.
- Johnson ended 2018 as the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year, SWAC Championship Offensive MVP, SWAC All-Conference First-Team, Walter Payton Award Finalist (best player in FCS), HBCU Player of the Year finalist and C Spire Conerly Trophy Finalist (best player in the state of Mississippi). The HBCU Player of the Year award winner has not yet been announced.
- Waller rushed for at least 100 yards in seven of the last eight games of the season including the SWAC Championship where he posted 177 yards and three touchdowns.
- Hollis turned in his second straight big performance after being named the SWAC Championship Defensive MVP. His 2.5 tackles for a loss marked a career-high.
- Alcorn's captains were seniors
Sterling Shippy,
P.J. Simmons and
Matthew Stewart. Alcorn won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Shippy started in 12 of 13 games on the year.
Quoting SWAC Coach of the Year Fred McNair
Opening Statement
"I really just want to give Coach [Sam] Washington, his staff and his ball club credit. They played a heck of a ball game and we have to give them that. I thought in the first half we sputtered a little bit and didn't execute as well as we should have. The second half, we made some adjustments and executed a whole lot better. It just came down to a two-point conversion that I thought was a catch. I really didn't understand it. The officials made the call, and I thought it was different. Our young men played this football game as hard as they could play, and for it to come down to a play like that was tough. I have a great football team and I have to give my coaching staff and my kids credit for the way they play the game. This game showed a lot of their character."
On the explanation the refs gave him after the two-point attempt
"There was none. They said they reviewed it and the call stands. I was looking for some sort of explanation such as his foot was out of bounds or there was a juggle, or something – but there wasn't one."
On his seniors
"These kids have been going hard the whole season. From the very start at summer camp, the leadership that they showed for the underclassmen was tremendous. They set an example by the way they act and the things that they do on and off the field. We're going to miss these guys. I hope that us as coaches impacted their lives in the future."
On the defense's performance
"They've been a bend-but-don't-break defense all year. They gave up that first touchdown where we had some missed assignments, but they saw the mistakes that they made. After that, our defense played great, but credit NC A&T again."
Closing Statement
"I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of the way they competed all season. I told them after the game that in life, you'll have to go through a lot of adversity. I hope that the way they approached this game was the way they approach life. If adversity strikes, you have to bounce back from it. At halftime, I told them just to go out there and finish the last 30 minutes. They came out a whole lot better in the second half, but these young men care about each other in the locker room and it's a family. They'll cherish these moments for the rest of their lives."
Quoting junior quarterback Noah Johnson
On whether the first half was about nerves or not
"We just came out and took their best first punch. In the second half, we just didn't finish. There wasn't anything else to it, we just have to finish. We were two or three plays away."
On whether he had a hamstring injury because he was limping
"I pulled it on the two-point conversion. I wasn't going to leave the game though, I was playing for the seniors. I have plenty of time to recover and I'll be alright."
On his long touchdown run
"It was a great play call by Coach [Ryan] Stanchek. We talked on the sideline before and I told him what I was seeing out there, and he called a great play. We just came up two or three plays short in this game. We have to move on from it and it will make us better in life."
Quoting junior running back De'Shawn Waller
On if there was anything the team could have done better that would have changed the outcome
"No, I don't think so. We just went out there and tried to execute the plays that coach called."
On what changed from the first half to the second
"We came out with better effort in the second. The offensive line did what they had to do and I just followed the blocks in front of me."
On what it was like playing in his hometown
"The fan support was great. Whether we won or lost, the fans were still going to be by our side. I just tried to do whatever I could to make my parents proud, no matter what happened on the field."
Quoting senior defensive back Brady Smith
On what Coach McNair's message was at halftime that got the team going in the second half
"Coach was big on finishing. We knew we had made some mistakes in the first half and we had to come back and fix it. To me, it was about pride. I believe in everyone on the defense and everyone on the whole team, and we had to give all we had for the last 30 minutes. Some of us were seniors so we wanted to go out with a bang."
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