Hampton 26, Morgan State 7

September 23, 2006

East Rutherford, N.J. – Hampton quarterback Princeton Shepherd threw two touchdown passes to Marquay McDaniel and another to Onrea Jones to lead the Pirates to a 26-7 win over Morgan State Saturday afternoon in the New York Urban League Classic at Giants Stadium.  The victory was the 500th all-time for the Hampton football program in 105 years of competition.

For the second time in as many weeks, Shepherd and the Pirates (4-0, 3-0 MEAC) took their opening drive the length of the field for an early 7-0 lead.  During most of the damage through the air, Shepherd completed all five of his pass attempts on the drive for a total of 40 yards, the last 16 coming on a scoring strike to McDaniel.  The Pirates marched a total of 67 yards in nine plays to mark the fourth time in four games that Hampton has scored first.

Featuring a quarterback tandem of Byron Selby and Mario Melton, Morgan State (1-3, 0-1 MEAC) put together an impressive drive of its own two possessions later.  Forced to scramble out of the pocket to avoid the Pirates’ pass rush, Selby found Edwin Baptiste coming across the middle and Baptiste’s catch-and-run gained 41 yards to put the Bears in Hampton territory.  Morgan State stalled at the Hampton 21-yard line and settled for a 38-yard field goal attempt by Jonathan Skeete.  However, Hampton’s Ray Lewis, who also blocked a field goal in the season opener against Grambling State, burst through the line knocked the ball off course to keep the Bears scoreless.

The Hampton defense led to the Pirates’ next touchdown when Travarous Bain picked off a Mario Melton pass and returned it for a would be touchdown that was called back because of a holding penalty.  However, Hampton still maintained possession at the MSU 18-yard line, eventually scoring when Shepherd found Onrea Jones on a rollout pass for a 6-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Pirate lead with 6:54 remaining in the first half.

Not wanting the game to get away, the Bears settled on the returning starter Selby to pilot the ensuing possession.  He ran for 29 yards and connected with Rodrick Wolfe for a 13-yard gain and the Bears found themselves inside the Hampton 10-yard line with under 20 seconds remaining.  After a rush attempt by Craig Nelson was halted by Hampton’s Marlon Fair and Ray Lewis at the 5-yard line, Selby rushed to the line and tossed a jump ball into the corner of the end zone where Wolfe was able to take advantage of the Pirates’ 5-foot-8 cornerback Calvin Bannister for the touchdown with three seconds still on the clock.  The 15-play, 65-yard drive brought the Bears to within seven at 14-7 heading into the break.

The only score of the third quarter was a result of some solid special teams play and a great defensive effort by the Pirates.  Marquay McDaniel, the nation’s current active leader in punt return yards, brought one back 40 yards to the Morgan State 14-yard line.  Unfortunately, a fumble by Kevin Beverly at the 1-yard line was recovered by the Bears’ Darius Leak.  On the ensuing play Justin Durant and Kendall Langford combined to stuff Morgan’s Chad Simpson in the end zone for a safety, making the score Hampton 16, Morgan State 7.

Hampton added 10 more points in the fourth quarter on a 28-yard field goal by Andrew Paterini and a 25-yard scoring pass from Shepherd to McDaniel.

Despite the victory the Pirates were far from their normal self.  Coming in leading the country in total offense at better than 463 yards per game, Hampton was held to just 248 yards on the day, primarily due to multiple penalties.  The Pirates were penalized 12 times for 106 yards on the day and they also lost two fumbles.

Shepherd finished the day 12-of-18 for 121 yards and three touchdowns, while Justin Durant and Kendall Langford led the defensive assault for Hampton.  Durant recorded a game-high 10 tackles, while Langford registered seven tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.