Saturday afternoon’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football season finale will likely be one flu game the Delaware State football team will not want to remember.
The Hornets, drained by a flu bug going around campus this week were overtaken by an opportunistic and aggressive Morgan State team 37-7, dropping DelState to 5-5 overall and a final conference record of 2-3. DSU’s final chance for its first winning season since 2012 will occur next Saturday when future Colonial Athletic Association member Campbell University visits Alumni Stadium at 2 pm.
“We lost to the flu and Morgan State this week,” Hornets head coach Rod Milstead said. “We had guys who couldn’t practice this week and now we’re down to our fourth-string quarterback. Not making excuses, that’s on me as the coach to get everyone ready. Hopefully, we can get the cold out of our system and get ready for next week.”
The Hornets led briefly in the second quarter thanks to a turnover by the defense. Linebacker Ronald Holmes forced Bears receiver D.J. Hamler to fumble, and Jayden Estes recovered.
Three plays later, Hornet receiver Bizzett Woodley made a magnificent one-handed catch of a C.J. Henry pass for a 12-yard touchdown and a 7-6 DSU lead just 2:44 into the second quarter.
The Bears (4-6, 2-2 MEAC) already had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown by Hosea Robinson, but Morgan wasn’t finished.
A 19-yard touchdown pass from Duce Taylor to Joseph Owumi just before halftime was just the appetizer as Keith Jenkins Jr. took the second-half kickoff 90 yards to open a 23-7 Morgan State lead. Morgan State got a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown by Carlvainsky Decius and a fumble recovered in the end zone by Devan Hebron in the second half as well.
Henry was under siege all day thanks to a relentless Morgan pass rush that recorded nine sacks, including two fumbles between Henry (who left with a shoulder sprain) and freshman quarterback Marqui Adams. The Hornets compiled a meager 81 yards of total offense with negative-5 yards rushing to their credit.
“We didn’t play Delaware State football,” Milstead said. “We’ve had two different teams the last two weeks – last week against South Carolina State and today.”
