Washington, DC--The Howard University football team took an early lead, fell behind and then rallied but in the end, too many missed opportunities doomed the Bison in a 38-22 loss to North Carolina A&T in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game at Greene before a capacity crowd.
           
Howard (1-4, 0-2 MEAC) took the opening kickoff and marched 76 yards in seven plays with Greg McGhee capping off the drive with an 11-yard sprint.
           
The Aggies (4-1, 1-0 MEAC) countered with a scoring drive of its own, 72 yards in six plays.  From there, NC A&T took over, limiting the Bison offense to three and outs while utilizing a balanced attack to reel off 21 unanswered points to take a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter.  It included a 49-yard pass from Kwashaun Quick, a 49-yard strike to Desmond Lawrence, a three-yard toss from Quick to Caleb Gabriel, an 11-yard run by Cartwright and a third Quick TD pass, this one to Darren Bullock from 46 yards.
           
"As a team I'm not pleased with the effort level," commented Howard head coach Gary Harrell. "Certain players, of course Greg McGhee put forth great effort. On defense we're just not playing well collectively. We have guys on scholarship who have to carry out their assignments and responsibilities."
 
The Bison, perhaps feeling it getting away from them, rallied behind its leader, McGhee, who engineered a 93-yard, eight-play drive that was fiunished off by a three-yard burst by Aquanius Freeman.  The kick was blocked but Howard got to within 28-13.  The Bison began to slow down the hard-charging Aggie attack, forcing a turnover.  But NC A&T clamped down and forced a 19-yard John Fleck field at the halftime buzzer.
           
The two teams took turns putting together stops until the Bison defense forced an Aggie turnover that McGhee capitalized on with a 1-yard toss to Justin Chaney.  That got Howard to within 28-22 with 3:25 left in the third stanza.
                             
"It's almost déjà vu to me. I don't know what it is with this football team," questioned Harrell. "We tend to let teams jump out early with a 14-point lead, and then we try to attempt to win a football game We once again gave up at least 35 points. I think we came out and showed great discipline in the second quarter. We just didn't play well. We have guys on scholarship who need to understand their role and need to contribute."

From there, NC A&T closed out the game with a Cartwright 16-yard burst up the niddle and a Cody Jones 40-yard field goal.
           
Within that period, Howard had numerous chances but each time, dropped passes, untimely penalties and A&T's defense stymied potential scoring drives.  But none could have been bigger than a big play that occurred late in the second quarter.  The Aggies, up 28-13, were driving for a score that would have increased their lead.  Howard safety Cameron Alston stepped in front of a NC A&T receiver, picked off the pass and weaved his way 99 yards for what appeared to be a game-changing play.  Instead, the officials called an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Bison, wiping out the play.
                             
"Kenneth Russ made the tackle in the backfield and stood over his guy for about half a second then walked away and the ref called it taunting," explained Harrell. "It was a big change of momentum for the game.  It is a part of the game and we're moving forward, not making any excuses."
 
Cartwright, who was subbing for team-leading rusher Tarik Cohen, rushed for a career-high 135 yards on 33 carries and two TDs.   Quick was 14 of 23 for 200 yards and two TDs.
           
McGhee again had a brilliant day, accounting for 330 of Howard's 396 yards.  But he was again victimized by dropped passes.
           
"Their defensive line started playing line games," said McGhee. "Their defensive line was able to get penetration and it gave our offensive line problems. We ended up picking up on it second half. We had a couple very good drives second half; we just have to finish them. We have to put points up on the board."

The loss overshadowed a brilliant effort by John Fleck, who averaged almost 47 yards per punt including two inside the 5-yard line.

"I had a great game punting, said Fleck.  "All week I was working...I just had great snaps and it's always good to get great snaps for our snapper. I just put the ball out there and swung my leg as hard as I can. I felt in the zone today. I felt good going in the game, and during the game. I punted a little bit more than I would've liked, but I'm going to do everything I can to help out ."

NEXT UP: NC A&T faces a big challenge next Saturday when it takes on the Bulldogs of South Carolina State in Atlanta, Ga, while the Bison will try to snap their two-game skid when they take on the Eagles of North Carolina Central in Durham, NC.