Charlotte coach Brad Lambert after talking to the huddle. Photo by Chris Crews.
The Charlotte 49ers played their hearts out in their in-state shootout with NC A&T, but they ultimately fell 35-31 after coming back from an 18-point deficit. The Aggies scored three touchdowns in the first half, and got a huge defensive stop late in the fourth quarter that ultimately sealed the deal. A&T quarterback Lamar Raynard finished the game 16-26 for 259 yards passing and one touchdown, and Marquell Cartwright rushed for two scores to keep the Niners at bay.
Meanwhile, Hassan Klugh had his best passing game of the season, going 13-29 for 170 yards and three touchdowns. However, he also threw two costly interceptions and fumbled three times. The Niners recovered one of the fumbles. Workpeh Kofa caught six passes for 111 yards and a score to lead the receivers. The running game also picked up for Charlotte, and the backfield duo of Benny Lemay and Robert Washington kept the Niners in the contest when they were struggling passing. Lemay finished the game with 158 yards rushing on 19 carries, and Washington had 53 yards on 10 carries. Klugh added another 55 yards rushing.
“We dug too big of a hole,” Charlotte coach Brad Lambert said after the game. “We’ve got to look in the mirror and say ‘hey, we didn’t have them ready to play in the first half’. We had an opportunity to win the game… had an opportunity to get to overtime… but they had a guy make a play down the stretch that knocked us out.”
The game started off well enough for the Niners, as they forced a fumble on the opening kickoff return. The drive culminated in 14-yard touchdown run at the 13:26 mark by Klugh, his third rushing touchdown of the season. However, the momentum wouldn’t last long, as the Aggies drove 90 yards and scored on Raynard’s 17-yard pass to Malik Wilson. That touchdown was the first of 21 unanswered points by A&T.
A little over four minutes later, the Aggies got the ball back and drove 71 yards in three plays that led to a one-yard score by running back Jacquil Capel. The highlight of the drive was a 64-yard pass play from Raynard to Wilson. After that play, the Aggie defense stepped up, as Klugh was stripped of the ball as he threw it, and the Aggies recovered the fumble. At the 14:25 mark of the second frame, A&T found the endzone again, this time thanks to Cartwright’s nine-yard carry. Cartwright’s score increased the A&T lead to 21-7.
Finally, at the 8:14 mark, Nigel McCauley nailed a 22-yard field goal at the tail end of an 11-play, 53 yard drive. That drive featured the Niners’ bruising backfield, as Lemay had runs of 11, 12 and 10 yards during the drive. Those were the final points of the half, as the two teams traded punts until the Aggies got the ball within field goal range with one second remaining in the half. Noel Ruiz missed wide right, keeping the halftime score at 21-10 in favor of A&T.
Coming out of the gate, it was Charlotte who fumbled on the kickoff, but recovered it. After a punt, A&T went three-and-out, but then Klugh threw his first pick of the day. A&T’s Franklin McCain returned the ball 22 yards to give the Aggies prime field position, and Cartwright scored his second touchdown on a one-yard rush on fourth-and-goal. After