Just when it seemed a Morgan State football game couldn't get more exciting than the previous week's overtime win over Delaware State during homecoming, yesterday's game topped it.
Unheralded Morris Brown pushed the Bears to their limits before quarterback Lejominick Washington swept the right side for a game-winning two-point conversion to give Morgan a 42-41 overtime victory at Hughes Stadium.
It was the fourth straight triumph for Morgan (5-4), a streak that has not been matched since the school's last winning season in 1979.
But the 1-8 Wolverines, who lost to three other Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference teams by a combined score of 155-28, nearly pulled off the upset.
Morris Brown never led until Travis Kimble (268 rushing yards, four touchdowns) scored on a 16-yard run on the first series in overtime after the Bears won the coin flip and decided to take the ball last. Michael Gaston's kick made it 41-34.
On Morgan's possession, Washington scrambled 19 yards, then scored on the next down from the 6, but the play was nullified by a holding penalty. From the 13, he reached the end zone again, then came up limping.
But with his first two snappers being disciplined and injured, respectively, Bears coach Donald Hill-Eley had no decision to make on the extra-point attempt. It was win it or lose it right there.
"On the last play of regulation [a sack], they twisted my ankle under the pile, the same ankle I had injured before," said Washington, who rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 155 and a touchdown.
"It really bothered me, but nothing was going to stop me [on the two-point play]. It was a roll-out pass, but I was told to keep it."
At the end of the first half, with his team leading 19-7, Hill-Eley decided against a medium-distance field-goal try on fourth-and-goal from the Morris Brown 17 because of the uncertainty of the snap. The Bears had already missed one extra point early in the game.
The shortcoming almost came back to haunt Morgan, which lost to the Wolverines on a last-second field goal last season.
Morris Brown certainly didn't act like a downtrodden team in the second half, continuously battling back until a 34-yard touchdown pass from Kalley Young to Raymond Johnson tied the game at 27 with 4:56 remaining.
But Morgan linebacker Albert Gamble blocked the extra-point attempt and the Bears retaliated with a 64-yard touchdown pass from Washington to T.J. Stallings three plays later to regain command.
Stallings (Randallstown) finished with three touchdowns and raised his season total to 18, a Morgan record, and increased his point total to 114, another season high.
"The record is a great achievement, but I was not satisfied with my performance," said Stallings. "I just want it to mean that in my last year I gave it my all."
With 3:52 left in regulation, Morris Brown chipped away and tied the game again when Young avoided the rush of three defenders and hit a wide-open Tawfig Ramsey for a 17-yard score that forced overtime.
"I guess we thought Morris Brown was going to come up here and lay down for us," Stallings said. "It didn't happen that way. We made it harder than it had to be."
Morris Brown 0 7 7 20 7 - 41
Morgan St. 12 7 8 7 8 - 42
Next for Morgan
Opponent:Norfolk State
Site:William "Dick" Price Stadium, Norfolk, Va.
When:Saturday, 1 p.m.
Record:2-6
Yesterday:Lost to Howard, 21-0