Morehouse used 21 plays to build a 21-point lead in the first 12 minutes and went on to defeat Savannah State 34-23 on a cloudy and rare Homecoming Sunday match-up.
The Maroon Tigers needed only 21 plays to amass the 21-0 lead. Senior quarterback Miles Scott, playing in his last career home game, got the ball rolling with a 17-yard pass to Jeremiah Gibson.
Scott completed three more passes, handed the ball off four times, and forced an Orange Tiger defender to commit pass interference, driving the ball deep into SSU territory. Noah Rhodes turned Scott’s last pass, a 10-yarder, into a 15-yard touchdown.
Elijah Stephens fumbled the ball back to Morehouse on an 8-yard pass play at the SSU 29-yard line. Despite the short field, it took Scott and company 10 plays to get into the end zone. Savion Red rushed the last two yards over the left side to cap the drive.
Azari Brown returned a 45-yard punt from Chase Butler 45 yards to set up the Maroon Tigers third score. Another pass interference on the SSU secondary set up another two-yard touchdown plunge for Red.
The second quarter was nowhere near as fruitful as the opening quarter. Savannah State managed to mount an 11-play, 63-yard drive on their first possession of the quarter. Sophomore quarterback Rashawn Truell completed four passes for 44 yards, and freshman running back KJ DeBruce added 23 on the ground to move inside the red zone for the first time in the game.
A false start penalty turned a manageable third-and-four into a far more difficult third-and-nine. Joshua Woodley split the uprights from 32 yards out to cut the lead to 18.
The Orange Tigers defense played inspired football for most of the second half. They shut down the Maroon Tigers’ first offensive series out of the break. It was all for naught as Stephen Davis mishandled the ensuing punt into the hands of Morehouse freshman defensive back Markevious Yancie.
It took Red one play to score his third touchdown. He caught a short pass from Scott 11 yards to the end zone.
Scott surpassed 6,000 career yards to set a new all-time record for yards passing at Morehouse.
The Orange Tigers offense responded with a touchdown of their own. Truell went deep to Tristan Sizemore for a 45-yard play. Caleb Barbas capped the 8-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard run up the middle.
Morehouse answered back with another touchdown, but it wasn’t the offense that did it. The offense lost more yards than it gained and punted the ball back to SSU. Red-shirt sophomore Fabian Walker caught the lateral from Truell and tried to launch a pass downfield. The Maroon Tigers sniffed it out. Junior cornerback Kai Fernandez batted Walker’s pass into the air and into the hands of fellow junior defensive backfield-mate Stephen Rowser. Rowser ran behind his blockers before finally diving into the end zone with a couple of would-be tacklers draped over him.
A couple of plays and some poor tackling later, the Orange Tigers were in the end zone again. Tristan Sizemore turned a routing 5-7 yard pass in the flats into a 58-yard jaunt. Several Morehouse defenders failed to take advantage of an opportunity to either tackle Sizemore or push him out of bounds.
Sizemore helped SSU end the game on a somewhat positive note by catching his second touchdown with time expiring.