Towson football rallied to beat Morgan State, 14-9, for its seventh straight win in the Battle for Greater Baltimore on Saturday night before an announced 8,374 at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
The game could not have started better for Morgan State, as Bears defensive back Carlvainsky Decius intercepted a pass from quarterback Carlos Davis on the Tigers’ opening play from scrimmage. But Morgan State’s drive stalled at the Towson 23-yard-line, leading to a 40-yard field goal by Beckett Leary.
That 3-0 lead was short-lived, as Towson wide receiver Sam Reynolds caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Carlos Davis with 7:06 left in the first quarter to put the Tigers up 7-3. Davis, a Mervo graduate and UMass transfer, started the drive with a 45-yard pass to receiver Jaceon Doss.
Morgan State (1-1) had a chance to go into the locker room trailing by just one possession, but the Tigers added to their lead when running back Christopher Watkins scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds left in the half.
It did not take long for the Bears to answer after the break. On the second play of the third quarter, quarterback Tahj Smith threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Joseph Kennerly Jr., cutting the deficit to 14-9 after the extra point attempt was blocked.
Morgan State threatened to pull even closer, but Rion Roseborough blocked Leary’s 39-yard field goal attempt with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.
Both teams struggled with penalties, as Morgan State was penalized nine times for 58 yards and Towson earned six flags for 70 yards. The Tigers (1-1) also fumbled three times but lost only one, while the Bears recovered their only fumble. With Towson looking to extend its lead early in the fourth quarter after a 44-yard run by Devin Matthews, wide receiver Da’Kendall James fumbled at the Morgan State 18, and the Bears recovered.
“We just left too much out there on offense,” Towson second-year coach Pete Shinnick told reporters after the game. “I thought we easily could have gotten in the end zone a couple more times, but credit to Morgan. They played really tough.”
In his home debut after losing, 38-20, at Cincinnati last week, Davis finished 21-for-28 for 209 yards. Matthews had 11 carries for 95 yards and Doss finished with three catches for 67 yards for Towson, which leads the all-time series 23-6.
Smith, who was sacked five times, completed 13 of 20 passes for 163 yards and added 11 carries for 24 yards, while Jason Collins led the Bears with 34 yards on six carries.
Arturo Mattocks recorded a game-high nine tackles and Elijah Williams had two sacks for Morgan State.
Division II
Lenoir-Rhyne 32, Bowie State 19: The host Bears (1-0) outscored the Bulldogs (0-1) 16-6 in the second half and never trailed. Bowie State safety Samuel Graham (North County) intercepted a pass from Lenoir-Rhyne quarterback Jalen Ferguson and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 16-6 with 17 seconds left in the first half. The Bulldogs’ Curtis Murray (Towson University) had a 62-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.
Division III
Johns Hopkins 27, Ithaca 23: Bay Harvey completed a second-half comeback with a 15-yard touchdown pass to EJ Talarico with 8:44 left in the game to lift the visiting Blue Jays (1-0) over the Bombers (0-1). Ithaca opened with a 17-0 lead in the first half. Hopkins strung together four scoring plays to take a 20-17 lead near the end of the third quarter. The Bombers took the lead back, 23-20, with 14:53 left before the Blue Jays’ game-winning drive. Harvey completed 17 of 28 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 21 carries for 132 yards and two scores.
Salisbury 48, Washington & Lee 26: The host Sea Gulls (1-0) took a 28-0 lead over the Generals (0-1) and rolled to victory. Dario Belizaire (four carries for 137 yards) and Archbishop Curley graduate Ronald Clark (13 for 134) each had two rushing touchdowns for Salisbury. Gage Katzenell-Hall completed 6 of 12 passes for 269 yards, including an 89-yard touchdown pass to Micah Brubaker. Katzenell-Hall also had an 8-yard rushing touchdown. Salisbury will host Muhlenberg at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
McDaniel 7, Catholic 3: Micajah Cobbs had a 17-yard touchdown run and Braylon Johnson added the extra point to lift the host Green Terror (1-0) over the Cardinals (0-1) on Friday night. Catholic took a 3-0 lead on a 23-yard field goal by Andrew Petrino (Calvert Hall) with 4:43 left in the third quarter, but McDaniel answered with 25 seconds left in the quarter to take the lead for good. Cobbs had 20 carries for 83 yards. The win ended an 11-game losing streak overall, a three-game slide to Catholic and a three-game losing streak in season openers.
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