news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Coastal Carolina hosts N.C. A&T next season in the final meeting of their second home-and-home series.

Don’t bet on a renewal of the series after that.

“You hired a guy away from Grambling who won nine games there last year?” Coastal coach David Bennett drawled, shaking his head. “Shoot. After next year, we won’t be scheduling them. They’re going to get it right. I promise you. I just hope they’re two years away.”

Bennett’s Chanticleers led wire-to-wire in their 31-14 victory over A&T in a less-than-half-full Aggie Stadium on Saturday.

But short-handed A&T is a better football team than it was three weeks ago, when the Aggies trounced start-up Virginia University of Lynchburg.

The 9,709 who paid to get in saw the Aggies shuffle their offensive line and struggle to protect quarterback Lewis Kindle. They saw a tiring defense give up too many big plays and 354 total yards.

But they also saw a team that solved its turnover problem, at least for one day. They saw a team that’s cut down on dumb penalties. They saw a team make adjustments and cut a 24-0 lead to 24-14 with lots of game left.

“They’re better than we thought they were,” Coastal linebacker Derrick Frasier said. “They’re the most improved team in the MEAC. ... They played together as a team. They have some pretty quick guys, some really great athletes.”

Just not enough of them.

“It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact: We played with 30 guys on scholarship today, and Coastal … had 76 guys on (at least partial) scholarship. That’s not a fair fight,” A&T coach Rod Broadway said. “... The problem we have, we’re going to have it all year. We’re going to be undermanned every game we go into.”

Undermanned or not, the Aggies impressed Coastal — particularly D’Vonte Grant, who made a game-high 12 tackles.

“There was a linebacker out there for A&T,” Bennett said, “and I was begging our guys, 'Can somebody please block him?’ And he’s just a sophomore? I guess we’ll have to see him next year down in Conway.”

It could be the last time the improving Aggies and Chanticleers play for a good long while.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

Coastal Carolina 3 14 7 7 — 31
N.C. A&T 0 0 7 7 — 14

CC—FG Clayton 40

CC—Hazel 10 pass from Hillary (Clayton kick)

CC—Small 3 run (Clayton kick)

CC—Whitener 10 pass from Hillary (Clayton kick)

A&T—Miles 6 pass from Kindle (Garcia-Camacho kick)

A&T—Kindle 1 run (Garcia-Camacho kick)

CC—Hazel 33 pass from Hillary (Clayton kick)

A—9,709.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs—Coastal Carolina 18, N.C. A&T 11

Rushes-yards—Coastal Carolina 37-129, N.C. A&T 35-94

Passing—Coastal Carolina 255, N.C. A&T 100

Comp-Att-Int—Coastal Carolina 18-24-0, N.C. A&T 12-24-1

Return yards—Coastal Carolina 28, N.C. A&T 10

Punts-Avg.—Coastal Carolina 5-37.6, N.C. A&T 7-37.4

Fumbles-Lost—Coastal Carolina 2-1, N.C. A&T 0-0

Penalties-Yards—Coastal Carolina 9-83, N.C. A&T 6-55

Time of possession—Coastal Carolina 29:38, N.C. A&T 30:22

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Coastal Carolina—Whitener 11-44, Height 11-29, Hillary 7-26, Floyd 1-24, Small 3-9, Bennett 1-5, Team 3-(minus 8).

N.C. A&T—Mayhew 20-68, Kindle 11-31, Drake 2-1, Lewis 2-(minus 6).

PASSING

Coastal Carolina—Hillary 18-24-0-255.

N.C. A&T—Kindle 12-23-1-100, Lewis 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING

Coastal Carolina—Hazel 6-92, Sullivan 2-68, Presley 2-25, Whitener 2-21, Childers 1-29, Boswell 1-10, Bennett 1-9, Duran 1-3, Wesley 1-0, Height 1-(minus 2).

N.C. A&T—Miles 8-83, Mayhew 3-8, Coles 1-9.