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GREENSBORO — After searching for almost three years, N.C. A&T finally found somebody it could beat.

After losing 27 straight games, the fourth-longest streak in NCAA Division I-AA history, the Aggies and coach Lee Fobbs defeated Johnson C. Smith 44-12 Saturday in the first game of Fobbs' third season at A&T.

And there was great rejoicing. Maybe too much. A&T's band was admonished by officials in the first quarter, presumably because the Marching Machine was bothering its own team. The fans had no idea how much time was left on the malfunctioning scoreboard clock, so they just enjoyed the long evening as if it would last forever.

By the end, it was the Smith band being chided by officials for making too much noise, and the Aggies taunting the opponents the way winning programs can taunt opponents.

It had been a long time.

Fobbs and the Aggie football community had been looked forward to this game as the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. A&T had last won a ballgame in the sixth week of the 2005 season, endured a coaching change and the death of player. Saturday's game was dedicated to the memory of Chad Wiley, a defensive lineman who passed away during a team conditioning drill in May.

"This game was a tribute to Chad Wiley," linebacker Andre Thornton said. "His family came into the locker room before the game. We told them this was going to be for them."

Fobbs replaced embattled George Small before the 2006 season amid great promise of returning A&T to the days of Bill Hayes, but almost from the beginning it turned into a long journey into the darkness. The 2006 season began with a numbing 41-14 loss to Winston-Salem State, the most galling loss in recent A&T football history.

Two winless seasons later, Fobbs walked into this one needing to take care of the most nagging concern in the Aggie community -- winning a football game.

"This was for everybody," he said. "We lose as a family and we win as a family. I'm elated. We can finally stop talking about it and move on."

So much more had happened affecting Aggie football. A new chancellor came in, and then athletics director Dee Todd was removed and interim Wheeler Brown took over as interim AD to restore order. Fobbs found his recruiting budget dwindling and his coaching staff shrinking to save money.

This year, he was allowed to hire an offensive coordinator, a role he'd been forced to handle himself the first two seasons. Coming out of his second season, Fobbs was in charge of a football program in trouble. Headed into the second game of his third, he's undefeated.

While storms raged all around the Triad, not a drop fell on half-filled Aggie Stadium. A&T ran to a 37-6 lead by about 7:30 p.m. The bands were waiting on the sidelines, and fans were up in their seats stretching when the referee looked around, turned on his field microphone and shrugged.

"Halftime," he said.

The players filed into the locker rooms, and one of them told his teammates the score was 0-0.

"No it's not," Fobbs said. "It's 37-6."

The work for this season's nowhere near half over, but a win next week against WSSU would go a long way in the recovery program. The program will largely be run at home, as the Aggies will play eight home games this year. A senior-dominated team could make this a special season, one no one expects. The confidence has fallen that far in the proud Aggie community.

But several thousand fans walked into Aggie Stadium convinced of one thing. A&T was going to beat J.C. Smith. All day long and through halftime, too. The series now stands 30-9-2 overall, A&T having beaten Smith 15 straight times.

The secret to ending losing streaks has always been scheduling. Give the interim AD some credit for this one. Having an offensive coordinator doesn't hurt. Recruiting kids who are already on the two-deep chart as true freshmen is a sign things are better. But the clearest sign was the malfunctioning scoreboard that showed the Aggies with 44 points and an unnamed team with only 12.

Saturday was all about A&T. Smith, dressed in the same school colors as A&T, was rendered invisible with only its band making any noise at all. And even that was drowned out in the end as A&T rejoiced again.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com