Fayetteville State 14, N.C. Central 13

(Durham, NC -- Oct. 6, 2001) The North Carolina Central University Eagles (1-1 CIAA, 3-2 overall) and Fayetteville State University Broncos (2-1 CIAA, 4-2 overall) battled to the very end, only to see the Broncos escape from O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium with a 14-13 victory in Durham, NC.

With 21 seconds remaining in the contest, the Eagles' Jamal Molden prepared for a 27-yard field goal attempt to win the game.

The crowd of 6,952 was on its feet for the final play. The kick was in the air, and blocked by FSU's Jimmy Smith and recovered by the Broncos inside of their own 10 yard-line. FSU's Duane Taylor simply took the snap, downed the ball, and ran off of the field for the FSU victory.

The game started off with great excitement and enthusiasm. NCCU's defense, top-ranked in the NCAA, was set to do battle with one of the top offenses in the CIAA. The opening kick was fielded by FSU's Karmal Watkins at his own goal line, and returned back for a touchdown. Officially, it would turn out to be a 100 yard kick-off return to put the Broncos up, 7-0.

Later in the first half, the special teams for FSU would score again... this time on a punt return. FSU's Elliott London fielded a Roger Burbage punt on his own 19-yard-line and the rest is history. London officially had an 81 yard return for touchdown, the second special teams touchdown on the day for the Broncos.

The Eagles were not ready to bow-out just yet. They used a seven play, 80 yard drive to cut the FSU lead down to 14-7 at the end of the first half.

In the second half, the Eagles used momentum to score on the Broncos again. That stifling NCCU defense caused FSU's Carnel Thornton to fumble at the FSU 25 yard-line. Jason Brown picked up the loose ball at the FSU 20-yard-line and ran in for a touchdown. Unfortunately, A 15-yard penalty for taunting on NCCU forced Molden to attempt a 35-yard point-after-kick. The kick was no good, and the score would remain at 14-13 in favor of the Broncos.

Later in the third quarter, the NCCU offense seemed to get rolling. They used some Lawrence Fuller and Cheo Johnson carries to get the Eagles down to the Broncos 10 yard-line. Fuller took a handoff from Lamont Alston, rushed inside of the 1 yard-line, and fumbled into the endzone, where it was recovered by FSU for a touchback. The rush by Fuller appeared to cross the plane of the endzone, but the referees ruled that NCCU had fumbled before entering the endzone.

The Eagles came back several times in the fourth quarter to get into the scoring position, the final time coming with the field goal try by Molden.

The Eagles will have to rebound from this loss quickly. They travel to Winston-Salem, NC next Saturday night to take on the CIAA's two-time defending conference champion Winston-Salem State University Rams. The Eagles have not defeated the Rams since 1997.

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