NORFOLK, Va. — N.C. A&T is 13 yards short of first place in the MEAC.
Randy Maynes scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 7:12 left to lead Norfolk State to a come-from-behind 14-10 victory over the Aggies at Dick Price Stadium on Saturday.
A&T's last chance to win ended with three consecutive incomplete passes from the Norfolk State 13-yard line in the final 47 seconds.
A&T wide receiver Torrian Warren, a Dudley graduate, got his hands on the fourth-down attempt. But he couldn't hang on, his bid for a diving catch in the end zone failing when the ball jarred loose on impact with the ground.
"We should have won this ballgame, just like we should have won last week's ball game (at Howard)," A&T coach Rod Broadway said. "We've got to teach our guys how to win. They don't know how to win or how to finish right now. That's (the coaches) responsibility. They're playing fairly hard. We're just not putting them in a good enough position to win."
With the victory, Norfolk State (7-2, 5-1) took over sole possession of first place in the MEAC.
A&T (4-4, 3-2) had its own chance at the league lead. The Aggies outgained Norfolk State in total yards 288 to 265. But quarterback Lewis Kindle, who passed for 155 yards, was sacked seven times. And A&T finished just 2-for-17 on third down.
Kindle led one final drive, as the Aggies started at their own 33 with 2:25 left.
Kindle ran four times for 42 yards in the drive, and he spiked the ball on first-and-10 from the 13 to stop the clock with 47 seconds left.
Receivers Larry Raper, Wallace Miles and Warren got their hands on Kindle's next three passes.
But none could hold on.
"If we are going to have a really good team, we have to win the close ones," Broadway said. "We haven't been able to do that."
N.C. A&T 0 10 0 0 — 10
Norfolk State 7 0 7 0 — 14
Nor St.—Hawkins 4 pass from Walley (Estep kick)
A&T—Lewis 1 run (Garcia-Camacho kick)
A&T—FG Garcia-Camacho 20
Nor St.—Maynes 3 run (Estep kick)
A—18,752
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs—N.C. A&T 17, Norfolk State 14
Rushes-Yards—N.C. A&T 48-134, Norfolk State 42-170
Passing yards—N.C. A&T 154, Norfolk State 95
Comp-Att-Int—N.C. A&T 13-31-0, Norfolk State 17-30-1
Punts-Average—N.C. A&T 7-28.9, Norfolk State 8-32.0
Fumbles-Lost—N.C. A&T 2-1, Norfolk State 4-1
Penalties-Yards—N.C. A&T 4-24, Norfolk State 8-61
Time of possession—N.C. A&T 31:57, Norfolk State 27:30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
N.C. A&T—Mayhew 25-83, Kindle 20-31, Lewis 3-20.
Norfolk State—Maynes 15-68, Walley 8-64, Lewis 4-30, Hedgeman 8-18, Johnson 1-8, Flores 2-4, Muenzer 1-(-9).
PASSING
N.C. A&T—Kindle 13-30-0-154, team 0-1-0-0.
Norfolk State—Walley 17-28-1-95, Flores 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING
N.C. A&T—Miles 8-109, Warren 2-32, Mayhew 2-16, Lewis 1-(-3).
Norfolk State—Boyce 6-30, Hawkins 2-18, Lewis 2-16, Hairston 2-8, Garrett 2-4, Kei.Johnson 1-10, Maynes 1-7, Hedgeman 1-2.
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