Morehouse ruins Concordia’s first home game of season

By George L. Jones

The Selma Times-Journal

It was a night full of firsts for the Concordia football team Saturday night.

It was the Hornets’ first home game of the season, and for the first time Morehouse College made a trip to Memorial Stadium.

Unfortunately for Concordia, it couldn’t move on since winning its first game of the season three weeks ago.

The Hornets (1-4) were held to 140 yards of total offense and gave up 190 yards on the ground in a 42-16 loss to the Tigers.

Morehouse (4-1) had a par of tailbacks that each rushed for more than 60 yards in Myeric Thompson and Christian Green. Thompson had 68 yards and a touchdown, and Green had 63 yards and two scores.

Unable to get anything consistent going offensively all night, the Hornets relied too heavily on a defense that showed fatigue as the game wore on.

“We just got our butts whooped up and down the field,” Concordia coach Shepherd Skanes said. “Morehouse was coming in here to make a statement, and that’s what they did. Your best defense is your offense, and we kept giving the ball right back to them.”

Anthony Gibson, who looked rattled early in his first collegiate start, finally settled and got Concordia going on a drive early in the third quarter.

Down by 12, the Hornets were nearing the red zone looking to score when Morehouse’s DeJuan Payne stripped a ball away mid-tackle. Payne raced 67 yards for a touchdown, tearing hopes for a comeback away from Concordia.

Gibson finished the game 9-for-18 with 55 yards and an interception. Antron Clark, who temporarily subbed for Gibson, was 0-for-3 passing.

Ward led Concordia’s ground game with 78 yards.

Demario Kilow got 35 of his 36 rushing yards on a touchdown that cut Morehouse’s lead to 28-16 with 3:38 to go in the third quarter.

The first of Green’s touchdowns came on a 3-yard run more than five minutes into the game.

Sherman Black picked up a Green fumble on Morehouse’s 2-yard line on the next possession and stepped into the end zone. A missed extra point kept the Tigers in front 7-6, and that was as close as Concordia came to leading.

Brandon Morgan broke out of a crowd of tacklers on the ensuing kickoff and took an 80-yard return all the way into the end zone.

Harrison Ellison brought the Hornets within five on a 28-yard field goal early in the second.

Green touched down in the end zone again with 2:16 left in the half.

Skanes was as disappointed in the way his team played as the loss itself.

That raised a heavy amount of concern for next weekend’s game at Tuskegee.

“Tuskegee won a SIAC championship last year, and we played like this against the team that was last in the SIAC,” Skanes said. “If Morehouse did this to us, just imagine what Tuskegee will do. We’ve got to get better. As players, as coaches, as a school – we’ve got to get better.”