Merrimack survives Morgan State rally

By Keith Henry

The Morgan State Bears looked to gain some big time momentum before MEAC competition begins in two weeks at North Carolina Central. However, The Bears couldn’t overcome several costly mistakes in a tough 32-24 loss to the Merrimack Warriors this evening at Hughes Stadium.

Merrimack got the party started when running back Jermaine Corbett ran the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown 14 seconds into the game.

Merrimack then blocked a Morgan State punt and recovered at the Bears’ 25-yard line. Wes Matthews returned the ball to the Morgan 10. A couple plays later, quarterback Ayden Pereira ran the ball into the endzone from 10 yards out with 10:57 left in the second quarter. The extra point from Lliam Davis gave the Warriors a 14-0 advantage.  

A few minutes later, Another Warriors’ drive led to a 51-yard field goal from Davis to give the Warriors a 17-0 lead with 7:16 left in the quarter. 

Morgan showed some signs of life and drove deep into Merrimack territory. That led to Beckett Leary’s 41-yard field goal to put Morgan State on the board. Cutting the deficit to 17-3 with 2:44 left.

The Warriors responded with a deep drive close to halftime. That led to a 41-yard field goal by Davis, extending the Warrior advantage to 20-3 with 58 seconds left. That would be the score at halftime. 

Morgan State (3-4) started the second half with possession and drives it to the Warrior five-yard line. Myles Miree ran it in for a touchdown a play later with 7:51 left. Beckett’s extra point cut the Bear deficit to 20-10. 

Morgan forced a three and out and got back possession. That led to Miree rolling into the endzone from a yard out for his second touchdown of the evening. With the Leary extra point, Morgan State moved to within a field goal at 20-17 with 34 seconds left in the third quarter. 

Merrimack answered with a drive of their own deep into the red zone, leading to a 32-yard FG by Davis to extend the Warrior lead to 23-17 with 11:56 left in the game. 

J.J. Davis’ 33-yard run on the next Morgan possession was the catalyst of a huge drive which led to his one-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 23. The Leary extra point gave the Bears their first lead of the game at 24-23 with 6:38 left in regulation.  

However, Merrimack (2-4) answered with a quick six-play drive ending in a two-yard touchdown run by Corbett with 3:05 left to give the Warriors a 29-24 advantage. But the two-point conversion attempt was broken up.  

Morgan State had two drives left to answer the Warriors. However, an attempted pass from Duce Taylor just floated over the head of Miree near the first down marker at their own 35 on a 4th and 12 play. 

Merrimack took over and four plays later, a 39-yard field goal by Davis extended the Warrior advantage to 32-24 with 36 seconds left in regulation.

Morgan State had their last chance to at least force overtime. They drove aggressively with the short amount of time remaining.  With four seconds left, Taylor completed a pass to Miree. However, the Warrior defense caught Miree at the Warriors’ 18-yard line to finish the game. 

Morgan State head coach Damon Wilson stated about the Bears’ comeback attempt in the second half, “The guys are resilient, but we couldn’t start the game off like that. We played horrible special teams wise and offensively in the first half of the game. In the second half of the game, we made some plays and gave ourselves some opportunities. We got the go-ahead score, but we didn’t finish at the end defensively. We had a chance offensively in the two-minute drill, but we didn’t execute. We got to the other side of the 50, which was good, but we didn’t finish.” 

The Bears start MEAC play two weeks from today as they travel to Durham, North Carolina to play the North Carolina Central Eagles for their homecoming festivities. Kickoff on October 26^th is scheduled for 3 pm.