HEADLINE

Box Score
HAMPTON, Va., September 16, 2006 – If he couldn’t get a win, the next best thing North Carolina A&T head football coach Lee Fobbs wanted was to see improvement. The score may not indicate it, but Fobbs got his second choice.

 No. 10 Hampton totaled 405 yards of total offense, and got 204 yards and three touchdowns from Kevin Beverly to down the Aggies 48-14 in MEAC play on Saturday. The Aggies fell to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the MEAC, while the Pirates improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the MEAC.

 “I think we’re on track,’’ said Fobbs. “We lost to a good football team, one of the best D-I-AA programs in the nation. But we looked better at certain aspects of the game than we did two weeks ago. Of course, we made some mistakes here and there that we need to correct, but it’s a growing process.”

 Among the Aggie improvements was forcing turnovers, moving the football and cutting down on penalties. But the key aspect of the game Fobbs liked was the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Herb Miller. Miller was 10 of 16 through the air for 93 yards and one interception. He was most effective on the ground, where he ran for 67 yards on 13 carries and scored twice.

 “Miller played a tough, physical ballgame,’’ said Fobbs. “That’s what we wanted from him and that’s what we got. Overall, I thought our guys played tougher, played a little smarter, but there were some plays early that turned the ballgame in their favor.”

 Things didn’t start particularly well for the Aggies. They went three-and-out on their first drive and then gave the Pirates the ball on their own 47 thanks to a 6-yard punt. The Pirates, the No. 1 team in the Sheridan Broadcasting Network Poll, took six plays to take advantage of the miscue. The drive ended a 4-yard Beverly touchdown.

 With a strong Aggie presence at Armstrong Stadium on Saturday, the Aggies didn’t appear intimidated by the quick Pirate strike. Thanks to two 15-yard Hampton penalties and a 15-yard completion to Curtis Walls, the Aggies moved the ball to the Pirates 8-yard line on the ensuing drive. Miller finished off the eight-play 71-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown on a bootleg to the right, tying the game at 7.

 But the Aggies, who had trouble slowing down the Pirates offense, couldn’t stop the Pirates from regaining the lead. A crucial mistake followed when Miller thought Hampton cornerback Travarous Bain was going to sit on short route. Instead Bain broke long and Miller threw the ball long leading to a Bain interception. Bain returned the pick 19 yards to the Aggies 27.

 A personal foul penalty added 15 more yards to play, setting up the Pirates at the Aggies 12. Three plays later Hampton quarterback Princeton Shepard found Onrea Jones cutting across the middle for an 8-yard touchdown pass and a 21-7 Hampton lead.

 “He is a veteran ballplayer and he made a veteran play,’’ said Fobbs about Bain. “In a couple of years, Herb is not fooled by that move because hopefully today he learned from it. I tell you what, I wish our second drive would have been our first drive, and would have worked with a lead. But things didn’t go our way today.”

 Rebounding next week will not be easy for the Aggies; they travel to Lafayette, La., to play Division I Louisiana-Lafayette at 5 p.m.

 “It gets no easier,’’ Fobbs said. “But our guys have to find out early that each every week you’re going to have to come to play.”