Washington, DC—The Howard University football team had its best effort of the season, limiting South Carolina State to one touchdown on offense, but six turnovers, including five interceptions and failure to capitalize on opportunities proved to be too much to overcome as Howard fell, 14-9 to the Bulldogs in a hard-fought Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at Greene Stadium.
The Bison (1-6, 1-3 in the MEAC), who gave up 59 points in last week's home loss to Monmouth, held South Carolina State in check through most of the game, limiting the visitors to 174 yards of total offense, a season low.
"All week we've been practicing flying around and getting to the ball, everybody wrapping up and everybody being accountable on defense," said Howard cornerback Yoseff Banks, who broke up several passes and had perhaps his best game of the season. "It was truly a team effort today."
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie at the end of the first quarter. Howard was able to move the ball at times, but each time, a costly mistake would stop a potential scoring drive.
The Bulldogs (2-3, 2-0 in the MEAC) showed signs of rust after not having played since September 24. SC State quarterback Caleb York was especially ineffective as he overshot receivers all day and ended up 10 of 30 for only 53 yards.
Much of the credit goes to the overall effort of the defense, especially the defensive secondary, which has been maligned all season because of its lack of experience and the injuries.
"I think the defense played outstanding today," said Howard head coach Gary Harrell. "I think offensively we put them in a bad position with the turnovers, giving SC State a short field. But the defense came in and got stops. They were much better at tackling this week. We still need to do a better job at creating turnovers and getting sacks. Defense did a good job as far as keeping the score in range where we offensively should've been able to win the ball game."
In a defensive battle that was waged, it would be the defense which made the key plays. With the Bison driving, SC State's junior linebacker Darius Leonard leaped in the air, intercepted a Kalen Johnson pass and returned it 64 yards for the game's first score.
The Bison responded with an 11-play, 59 drive that resulted in a Dakota Lebofsky 24-yard field goal that had Howard trailing, 7-3 at the half.
Neither team was able to generate any offensive consistency in the third quarter. The Bison would go on to have drives stopped with interceptions.
Although SC State was not able to capitalize, their punter Jerome Pettiway factored into the outcome. The junior punted eight times and averaged over 41 yards per punt that changed field position on at least four occasions.
One of his punts, a 56 yarder, was well placed inside Howard's own eight yard line.
But the Bison, who turned to red-shirt freshman quarterback Jason Collins in the second half, engineered a 10-play, 92-yard drive that used up over five minutes off the clock. A Collins 6-yard pass to Kyle Anthony gave Howard the lead at 9-7 midway through the third period. Although it was Anthony, who caught his fifth TD of the season that finished the drive, it was junior running back Anthony Philyaw who did most of the damage. The 6-1 junior from Redondo Beach, CA finished the day with 160 yards on 32 carries.
"This week we had film sessions three times throughout the week and we had a game plan established that was going well for the most part," said Collins, who was eight of 19 for 101 yards and the TD pass to Anthony. "We missed a couple plays and had some minor mistakes that led to the loss."
The Bison defense continued to stand tall, but it was a special teams mistake that led to the Bulldogs only TD on offense. Howard punter Damon Gillespie mishandled a long snap that was recovered by the Bulldogs at the Howard 23-yard line. The Bison defense continued to make it difficult for the Bulldogs as it took them six plays to go the 23 yards, but Caleb York managed to find Mykal Moody in the right corner of the end zone to close out the scoring and give the Bulldogs a 14-9 lead with 12:41 still remaining.
The Bison would get more opportunities but a second interception by Leonard snuffed out a potential scoring drive and helped the Bulldogs escape with the win.
"Some of the reads were not good looks for the quarterback," noted Harrell. "Two of the reads, specifically, were great plays by the defender (Leonard). He just made great plays on the ball. They did a good job as far as making the plays and getting those interceptions."
GAME NOTES: Philyaw rushed for over 100 yards for the third straight game…he now has 757 yards in six games…Kyle Anthony is making a strong push for MEAC Rookie of the Year..he now has 21 catches for five touchdowns..SC State has now won 10 in a row from Howard…Jalen Day (10 tackles), Elijah Anglin (5tackles), Richard Johnson, Craig Johnson and Johnny Cooper all played well on defense.
NEXT UP: SC State hosts Delaware State for its homecoming next Saturday at 1:30 pm while the Bison host North Carolina A&T for their homecoming next Saturday at 1pm.
