State of South Carolina A goal line stand must have been sweaty, but Meac still found a way to remain undefeated in the game.
Josh Shaw’s 30-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter gave the 27-down Bulldogs a 34-27 win over North Carolina Central, which was 4-27 and 8-3.
Here are the key takeaways from Friday night’s game.
The best part
South Carolina State dared to be bold early in the game and it paid off.
After a 28-yard touchdown pass to Billy Atkins and Deysandre Ruffin to give SCSU a 10-3 lead, the Bulldogs made a perfectly timed punt. Atkins found Nigel Johnson from 51 pitches as the period ended to give the visitors a 17-3 lead and all the momentum. But it would only last for a few minutes.
It is retracted by selecting the center six
The Eagles went up 17-6 in the second on a Caleb Robison field goal, then picked six by Eric Adams with a defensive 6.
Adams took advantage of two Bulldog receivers running into each other and returned an Atkins pass 33 yards into the end zone.
Running back Chris Mosley added a nine-yard touchdown to give Central a 20-17 halftime lead.
The goal line was assisted by a Standy Atkins fumble
Closing in on 27 in the fourth quarter, Atkins got an RPO for what looked like a surefire touchdown. It was a little premature as the stoppage short of the goal line and the Eagles shut down South Carolina State on fourth down and
The Bulldogs, however, would have one last chance.
Wins the defending championship … and keeps the quarterfinals
The Bulldog defense was quickly out of bounds on the next possession by North Carolina Central, leading to a short field goal by the offense.
Josh Shaw Central and in the solution by Racing, the winner of the 30 meters of the two fouls, because of the touching of the two weak attempts to lower the right side, took advantage.
South Carolina State moves to 9-0 in Meac games with Chennis Berry ERA and will have a chance to clinch a second straight conference title and another trip to the bowl next Saturday at Delaware State.
North Carolina Central’s Meac title dreams ended as they fell to 2-2 and 7-4 in the conference.
