From cleveland.com :
CANTON, Ohio – In a penalty-riddled game, Alabama A&M beat Morehouse College, 35-30, in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in the inaugural Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic.
Alabama A&M – guided by quarterback Aqeel Glass – led the entire game until a minute left in the final quarter, when Morehouse running back Santo Dunn leaped high from one yard out to give Morehouse a 30-28 lead.
But Alabama A&M drove down quickly, and Glass hit Brian Jenkins, a 5-foot, 8-inch receiver, for the winning touchdown with three seconds remaining.
Glass finished 28 of 44 for 397 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Still, second-year Alabama A&M coach Connell Maynor said his quarterback didn’t have his best game.
After the initial play of the game, which resulted in a touchdown, “the next three series we had the ball in their territory, and we didn’t get a first down. Aqeel made some bad decisions. … He just didn’t play well right there. It just stalled us,” Maynor said.
But the stall didn’t last long, and Glass continued firing – hitting receivers downfield, on the sidelines, in stride and laterally.
Two of Glass’ targets – Jenkins (120 yards) and Zabrian Moore (117 yards) – each had a touchdown.
“Brian is a competitor,” Maynor said. “He wants to win, he wants to put it all on his shoulders. He asked me ‘Coach let me go back in on kick returns.’ … You can’t do everything. You have got to do your job, and that’s what he did.”
For Morehouse, 5-foot-7 running back Santo Dunn created a triple threat for A&M’s defense. The junior from Griffin, Georgia, tallied 206 all-purpose yards – 62 on the ground, 63 receiving and 57 in kickoff returns and 24 on a punt return.
“We let them back in,” Maynor said. “We did that a little bit last year where we think the game is over. I still have to teach these guys how to play for four quarters and how to finish people off – kill a hand with a hand grenade. Put a foot on their throat and twist until the blood comes out.”
It was clear both teams were trying to find their footing early in the season. The teams slogged through 29 combined penalties, a diverse collection of delay-of-game, offsides, horse-collar, unsportsmanlike and other calls. By the time the final whistle sounded, Morehouse was whistled for 18 infractions; Alabama A&M got hit with 11.
A&M set the tone early. After the opening-kick return that put the Bulldogs on the Morehouse 40-yard line, Glass froze the defense with a fake run up the middle and threw to Moore, who scampered all the way to the end zone.
With 8:17 remaining in the second quarter, quarterback Michael Sims, a junior from Detroit, found Frank Bailey, who cut left and raced his way 59 yards for the touchdown. The extra point tied the game at 7.
But Glass led Alabama A&M’s aerial attack, leading the team to the 1-yard line, buoyed by a 25-yard Glass-to-Moore pass and two defensive penalties on the same play. The Bulldogs scored on the next play, when Jordan Bentley took a handoff over the middle for a one-yard run, giving A&M a 14-7 lead.
Morehouse caught a break with less than a minute remaining when Glass was rocked from behind, jarring the ball loose. Morehouse lineman Kelvin Dennis came up with the loose ball on his team’s 45 yard-line, and the Maroon Tigers staged a quick drive. It resulted in junior kicker Fernando Sdelamora’s 42-yard field goal as time ran out in the first half to close the gap, 14-10.
Glass added touchdown passes of 6 and 43 yards to Anthony Howard and Kendric Johnson, respectively, in the third quarter to widen the gap, 28-10.
But Morehouse wouldn’t quit. With 30 seconds remaining in the third, the Maroon Tigers scored on a nifty 30-yard pass from Jalen Brown – who had replaced Sims – to Dunn, making the score, 28-17. Brown
In the fourth, Alabama A&M hurt itself when Glass was intercepted. Morehouse raced upfield, and Brown tossed a five-yard touchdown pass to Tremell Gooden to make it 28-24.
The non-conference game raises awareness for the BCFHOF, which has a permanent home in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
