news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Hampton hasn't needed extra motivation against N.C. A&T in recent years. The Pirates' averages of 46.6 points and 32-point margins of victory during five straight wins hardly necessitated it.

But after reading some comments made by members of Aggies this week, Don Rose clipped out the statements anyway and passed them around the Pirates locker room.

"I know with coach (Alonzo) Lee, I know he does a lot to motivate his team or whatever," Rose said. "But a lot of times by doing that, we just took advantage of it. We don't need that to necessarily get us going, but it was a little fire."

And Hampton's fire doused some of the enthusiasm from the Aggies' fast start, stifling A&T's offense while moving ahead with 17 unanswered points in a 24-17 victory Saturday night at Aggie Stadium.

Mike Mayhew led the Aggies (2-1) with 82 yards rushing and a touchdown — a 59-yard run late in the fourth quarter after the game was decided — but the Aggies struggled to move the ball consistently against Hampton while watching the Pirates steadily pull away.

After taking a 7-0 lead on the opening play of the second quarter on Carlton Fears' 29-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Whittaker, A&T managed only one first down on its next seven possessions and didn't cross into Hampton territory again until the fourth quarter.

The Aggies committed four turnovers after going error free in their first two wins, and the struggles prompted Lee to insert freshman quarterback Lewis Kindle in place of Fears.

It didn't help: On Kindle's first possession, Hampton linebacker Brandon Roundtree picked off his second interception of the game near the sideline and strolled 5 yards in for a touchdown and a 24-7 lead with 12:27 remaining.

Fears finished 8 of 16 for 110 yards with an interception, and left the game with his future at quarterback uncertain.

"We weren't getting the ball moving," said Lee, who said the starting quarterback job next week will decided in practice. "We really feel like we could've been, even in the last two games, more productive. &ellipses; When you're not pushing the ball, you're not moving the ball, you have to give your young guys an opportunity."

While A&T struggled to find its rhythm, the Pirates rallied for 17 unanswered points with a series of big plays. Hampton quarterback Herbert Bynes, making his first start of the season, started Hampton's rally with a 62-yard touchdown pass to Damon McDaniel to trim A&T's lead to 7-6.

LeMarcus Coker broke a 37-yard run to push Hampton to the Aggies' 15-yard line, though the possession ended two plays later on a fumble by Bynes. But he made up for it on the following possession with a 22-yard touchdown pass to McDaniel and a two-point conversion pass to Isiah Thomas to give Hampton a 14-7 lead with 26 seconds remaining in the first half.

"We were trying some new things this week, and it was a little rocky at first, had to work the kinks out of it," running back LeMarcus Coker said. "But in the second half we came out, we made some adjustments, and got the ball moving."

Hampton 0 14 3 7 — 24
N.C. A&T 0 7 0 7 — 14

NCAT—Whitaker 29 pass from Fears (Courtney kick)
Hamp—Da.McDaniel 62 pass from Bynes (kick blocked)
Hamp—Da.McDaniel 23 pass from Bynes (I.Thomas pass from Bynes)
Hamp—FG Stovall 36
Hamp—Roundtree 5 interception return (Stovall kick)
NCAT—Mayhew 59 run (Courtney kick)
A—13,502.

First downs — Hampton 14, N.C. A&T 13
Rushes-yards — Hampton 43-125, N.C. A&T 33-104
Passing — Hampton 208, N.C. A&T 138
Comp-Att-Int — Hampton 11-20-0, N.C. A&T 12-27-2
Return Yards — Hampton 19, N.C. A&T 13
Punts-Avg. — Hampton 8-40.5, N.C. A&T 7-34.4
Fumbles-Lost — Hampton 3-2, N.C. A&T 2-1
Penalties-Yards — Hampton 16-130, N.C. A&T 4-33
Time of Possession — Hampton 33:35, N.C. A&T 26:25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
Hampton — Coker 24-112, S.Robinson 7-17, I.Thomas 1-10, McCloude 3-3, Team 1-0, Da.McDaniel 1-(minus 3), Bynes 6-(minus 14).
N.C. A&T — Mayhew 11-77, Raper 1-21, Payne 7-19, Fears 10-12, Kindle 4-(minus 25).

PASSING
Hampton — Bynes 11-20-0-208.
N.C. A&T — Fears 8-16-1-110, Kindle 4-11-1-28.

RECEIVING
Hampton — Da.McDaniel 5-104, Coker 3-42, I.Thomas 2-59, Norman 1-3.
N.C. A&T — Gould 4-43, Payne 2-16, Mayhew 2-15, Raper 1-32, Whitaker 1-29, Lowrance 1-6, Cooper 1-(minus 3).