Three Fourth Quarter TDs Lift TSU Over Alabama State; Randall Dixon's Four TD Tosses Leads Chowan To CIAA Win Over Fayetteville State; Full Rundown of the Weekend's HBCU Football Action

By ADD SEYMOUR JR.

It was a night that Tennessee State was looking to start a season where they looked more like the team that dominated offenses and moved the ball on their way to the FCS playoffs two years ago versus the team that struggled to win five games last year.

It took the Big Blue Tigers three quarters to look like that team from two years ago.

The TSU defense forced three fourth quarter fumbles while the offense woke up for three touchdowns for a come-back 24-14 win over Alabama State in the John Merritt Classic in Nashville Sunday.

"This is a different team, and I liked what I saw from it tonight," said TSU Head Coach Rod Reed.  "We had some adversity early on, but we came in at halftime and made some adjustments.  We didnt panic as a staff, our players didnt panic.'

The Tigers looked anything but classic for three quarters while the Hornets looked solid.  Daniel Duhart threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Davis and then added a one-yard TD run to give Alabama State a 14-3 halftime lead.

Chowan 41, Fayetteville State 31

On a day when most HBCU football teams served as dinner for the big boys of college football, Chowan and Fayetteville State started the season with a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association battle.

Randall Dixon's four touchdown passes gave Chowan all that they needed as the Hawks held on for a wild 41-31 win over host Fayetteville State Saturday.

Dixon's fourth touchdown of the day came midway through the fourth quarter, a his second of the day to Kaine Lombard to give Chowan a 41-17 lead.  Fayetteville State's 21-point fourth quarter made things interesting. Derek Bryant threw a touchdown pass and Andre Montgomery had two short TDs but the lead was too big for the Broncos.

Dixon finished 27-of-33 for 249 yards passing while Tyree Lee rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown for Chowan. Bryant led FSU with 361 yards passing and two touchdowns.  Both of those TD throws went to Tavon Gatlin who had 151 yards receiving.

Chowan (1-0) is back on the road next week when they visit Campbell while Fayetteville State (0-1) hosts UNC-Pembroke.

ALL HBCU FOOTBALL SCORES FROM SEPT. 5-6

CIAA

Livingstone 49, Benedict 6 - Drew Powell threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns and added 125 yards and a touchdown to lead Livingstone to a big win. Livingstone only gave up 49 yards rushing to Benedict.
Lincoln (Pa) 29, Cheyney 22 -
Bowie State 35, Merrimack 32 - Matthew Coggins threw for 313 yards and three TDs to lead Bowie State. Bowie's defense sacked Merrimack quarterbacks five times and picked off three passes, one returned 60 yards for a TD by Rahman Kamara.
California (Pa) 35, Virginia State 16 - California (Pa) quarterback James Harris had a big day, throwing for 387 yards and four touchdowns on only 12 completions.  His first three touchdowns went for 50, 97 and 87 yards.
Virginia Union 35, Brevard 21 - 21-fourth quarter points lifted Virginia Union for their come-from-behind victory.  Hakeem Holland rushed for 101 yards and the games final TD while Lamar Webster had three touchdown runs on the day.
Elizabeth City State 71, Virginia-Lynchburg 0 -
Wingate 14, Johnson C. Smith 0 - Wingate's ground game, which accounted for nearly 200 yards Saturday, controlled the game.  Wingate QB Kyle Johnson threw for 141 and a touchdown.

MEAC

Miami (Fla) 45, Bethune Cookman 0 - Miami (Fla)'s defense shut down Bethune-Cookman, who only had 79 yards of offense.  The Hurricanes rushed for 195 yards and three TDs while Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya threw for two more.
North Carolina Central 72, St. Augustine's 0 - It took North Carolina Central less than five minutes to go up by two touchdowns - and that was without the offense doing anything.  The Eagles blocked a punt for a touchdown and returned a fumble early to go up 13-0 points. They cruised from there. Malcolm Bell threw a touchdown pass while backup Quinn Billerman completed eight of nine passes, three for touchdowns.
North Carolina A&T 61, Shaw 7 - Quarterback Lamar Raynard and running back Tarik Cohen combined for five touchdowns in the Aggies rout of Shaw. Cohen had 106 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Raynard finished with 188 yards and three touchdowns passing.  Shaw only had 81 yards of total offense.
South Florida 51, Florida A&M 3 - A balanced South Florida offense (281 yards, three touchdowns passing; 275 yards, four touchdowns rushing) overwhelmed FAMU.  Of FAMU's offensive output of 182 yards, only 12 came on ground.
Rutgers 63, Norfolk State 13 - The Spartans made it interesting early, just trailing 21-13 at halftime, but Rutgers completely shut down the Norfolk State running game and took control the rest of the way.  Norfolk State's Greg Hankerson threw for 199 yards and two TDs.  But NSU had -3 rushing yards.
Air Force 63, Morgan State 7 - Air Force's running game overwhelmed Morgan State as the Academy rushed for 394 yards and five touchdowns. MSU's Morgan Skillon threw for 142 yards and rushed for 35, including the Bears lone score.
Appalachian State 49, Howard 0 - Taylor Lamb threw for 226 yards and four touchdowns to lead Appy State to an easy win over Howard.  Howard gave up 663 yards of offense to Appalachian State but could only muster 172 yards themselves, only 36 of that on the ground.
Colorado State 65, Savannah State 13 - Nick Stephens threw all four of touchdowns in the first half and from an opening drive fumble CSU recovered for a TD, Savannah State was totally out-classed by a Colorado State offense that had 381 yards passing and 217 yards rushing.
Hampton 35, Kentucky State 20 - David Waterford threw for 355 yards and five touchdowns, three in the first half, to lead the Pirates to an easy win over Kentucky State.  Twarn Mixon was on the receiving end of seven of those passes for 136 yards and four touchdowns.

SIAC

Morehouse 51, Edward Waters 7 - Isaiah Hicks rushed for 130 yards and three touchdowns as Morehouse completely overwhelmed NAIA foe Edward Waters.  Monquavious Johnson threw for 94 yards and a touchdown, a 50-yarder to Don Cox.  Three of Morehouse's first touchdowns of the game came from a defense that limited EWC to 151 yards of offense.
Alderson-Broaddus 22, Central State 14 - Wilson Vaughn threw for 253 yards and a touchdowns to lead Alderson-Broaddus to the win.  Brandon Jones added 125 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Central State's two touchdowns came on defense - a 74 yard Christian Wilson fumble recovery for a TD and a 75-yard Clim Robbins interception returned for a touchdown.
North Alabama 34, Miles 17 - Lamon Thompson rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns to lead North Alabama to the win.  David Whipple rushed for two touchdowns for Miles.
Valdosta State 21, Albany State 13 - A late two touchdown lead was too much for Albany State to overcome. Valdosta State rushed for two early touchdowns and threw for one. ASU's Caleb Edmonds three for touchdown while Jarvis Small rushed for another in the fourth quarter.
Tuskegee 26, Clark Atlanta 0 - Kevin Lacy rushed for a touchdown and threw for another as Tuskegee easily defeated the Panthers.  Osband Thompson had nine tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery for Tuskegee.
Lane 17, Concordia (Ala) 14 - Marcus Reynolds' 6-yard TD run capped a 10-point 3rd quarter that lifted Lane to the win.  Terrance Ayers threw for 85 yards and a touchdown for the Dragons.
West Alabama 52, Stillman 9 - Stillman led for seven minutes - but after that it was all West Alabama. Trent Thompson threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns for West Alabama while Rashard Lee added two TDs.


OTHERS

Lincoln (Mo) 35, Langston 32 -
Mississippi College 61, Texas College 6 -