Hampton 46, Howard 7

September 9, 2006

Hampton, Va. – Walter Payton Award candidate Alonzo Coleman rushed for 172 yards and three touchdowns to become Hampton’s all-time leading rusher and scorer, while guiding the 14th ranked Pirates to a 46-7 victory over Howard in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) opener for both teams. Princeton Shepherd also passed for 250 yards and two scores as the Pirate offense racked up 573 yards of total offense to Howard’s 329.

After driving inside of the Howard (0-1, 0-1 MEAC) 20-yard line on two first quarter possessions, the Pirate offense sputtered and was forced to settle for field goals of 27 and 34 yards by Andrew Paterini and a 6-0 lead at the end of one period.

Hampton (2-0, 1-0 MEAC) wasted little time scoring in the second frame, when on their third play from scrimmage Coleman raced around the right side for a 29-yard touchdown tying Montrell Coley for Hampton’s all-time touchdown mark with 54. A Howard penalty on the ensuing kickoff pinned the Bison deep in their own territory and the Pirates never let up, gaining possession at the Howard 39-yard line.

Shepherd and the Hampton air attack took it in from there with a 10-yard completion to Marquay McDaniel, an 11-yard strike to Onrea Jones and capping it with a 12-yard touchdown pass to McDaniel on a post corner. Paterini’s extra point was good and the Pirates were up 20-0 with 8:25 to play before halftime.

The Bison offense managed to drive 58 yards on its next possession behind Floyd Haigler who was one of three Howard players to take snaps from under center. However, on 4th-and-4 from the Hampton 23-yard line, Haigler hit Frank Berchie in the flats and Justin Durant (10 tackles) stopped him one yard short to give the Pirates the ball on downs.

Howard again put together another solid drive to open the second half, this time with starter William Blanden back at quarterback. Blanden reeled of a 16-yard run and back-to-back 12-yard completions to Larry Duncan and Stephane Assoumou to move the Bison down to the 25-yard line of the Pirates. They were forced to settle for a 42-yard field goal attempt from Dennis Wiehberg, but the attempt fell short and the Pirates capitalized immediately.

Six plays, 75 yards and two minutes and 41 seconds later, Coleman ran in from 16 yards out to become the Pirates all-time leader in total touchdowns with 55 and give the Pirates a 27-0 lead.

Things were looking up for the Bison when Berchie burst up the middle for a huge gain, but Hampton’s Travarous Bain stripped him of the ball after a gain of 46 yards and Durant recovered to put a stop to the Howard threat.

Another Howard turnover led to Hampton’s next touchdown as Henti Baird tipped a Martin Decembert pass into the hands of fellow Pirate linebacker Jimari Jones who returned it to the Bison 45. Following a 16-yard gain by Coleman, Shepherd and Jones connected again, this time for a 29-yard scoring strike and a 33-0 Hampton advantage at the end of three quarters.

Coleman not only put Hampton in front 40-0 with a 2-yard fourth quarter touchdown, but the run also put him in sole possession of Hampton’s all-time rushing record with 3,840 yards and the school’s all-time scoring record with 330 career points, again surpassing Coley’s 326.

Trailing 43-0, the Bison were poised to prevent a shutout and did so when Decembert found Assoumou on a 33-yard post with 2:32 remaining.

Paterini added his fourth field goal as time expired to provide the final 46-7 margin.