A&T Falls in Homecoming Game 24-20

After the much needed rain of the last few days, the clouds broke on Saturday afternoon as North Carolina A&T played its annual homecoming game at Aggie Stadium against Bethune-Cookman. As a large crowd of 20,013 spectators looked on, the winless-Aggies fell 24-20 in a battle of MEAC teams searching for their first conference win. Despite the loss, Aggie fans were treated to an entertaining halftime show and as usual, the homecoming atmosphere was festive in and around the stadium.

Once again this year, there were a large number of vendors set up in the parking lot of War Memorial Stadium selling a variety of different foods. In recent years, the City and University have tried to centralize where vendors can set up as to better regulate what is being sold. According to officials, this was done for the safety of those who might want to purchase food outside the stadium.

Inside the stadium, the Aggies started off slowly, finding themselves down 17-0 midway through the second quarter. A&T got on the board just before halftime on a 28 yard Eric Houston field goal which trimmed the deficit to 14 points. The Aggies would come out of the locker room hot, scoring the next 17 points of the contest to take a 20-17 lead with 12 and a half minutes left in the game. A&T managed to hold the lead throughout much of the fourth quarter until the Wildcats scored on a 2 yard run by Justin Brannon with just over a minute to play to deny the Aggies their first win in 2007.

With the loss, A&T drops to 0-7 in the MEAC and 0-9 overall. The win was Bethune-Cookman’s third of the season.

As Don mentioned earlier, two other area team also had homecoming games on Saturday. Guilford lost to Randolph-Macon 34-16 while Elon defeated Chattanooga 38-28.