Hampton's Jerrell Antoine's Tosses Five TD Passes to Give Hampton a 45-30 Win Over Bethune-Cookman and Derail Their Title Hopes

By ADD SEYMOUR JR. 

Photo by The Daily Press (Va)

Bethune-Cookman has been rolling through this season and outside a MEAC loss at South Carolina State and one to Division I Central Florida, the Wildcats seemed primed for a run at a MEAC title and another NCAA FCS playoff berth.

That was until Thursday night when they went to Hampton.

The Pirates, who only had two wins all season, rode the arm of freshman Jerrell Antoine and his five touchdown passes to win a wild back-and-forth game 45-30 over Bethune-Cookman.

The loss knocks Bethune-Cookman (8-3, 5-2 MEAC) out of a first-place tie with North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State and leaves them hoping for a lot of losses from a lot of people this week and next week if they are going to eake out a conference title.


“Tonight, a lot of things caught up with this football team,” Bethune-Cookman head coach Brian Jenkins told the Daytona News Journal after the game. “They played fundamental football, and we didn't. They just flat-out beat us. We're out of playoff contention, out of championship contention. We can do nothing but wipe the egg off our face and get ready to play another good football team in FAMU.”

Bethune-Cookman leads FCS football in total defense.  But the Pirates had their way with the Wildcats as Antoine was 21-of-34 for 249 yards in the air.  On the ground another freshman, Eric Carter added 120 yards.

“We had to keep the defense guessing,” Antoine told The Daily Press newspaper. “We couldn’t be a one-dimensional team. We had to be able to run the ball, pass the ball, do everything. That’s what we had to do.”

Bethune-Cookman actually outgained Hampton -- 483 yards to 422 -- as Anthony Jordan rushed for 81 yards and three touchdowns, Michael Jones ran for 92 yards and a TD and quarterback Quentin Williams added 52 yards on the ground. Williams also threw for 194 yards.

But Hampton moved the ball when they needed.

“We don’t have any quit in us,” Hampton head coach Connell Maynor told The Daily Press. “What we always say is that we’ve got to find a way to win a game in the fourth quarter, and make plays late and finish, and that’s what we did today.”