Hampton defeated Florida A&M 34-27 for a Homecoming win
at Armstrong Stadium on Saturday.
With the win, the Pirates (5-2, 4-0) are tied in the loss
column with North Carolina A&T for first place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic
Conference (MEAC). This was the third
straight homecoming win for Hampton and sixth in its last seven.
The Rattlers outgained the Pirates, 416-405 in total yards,
buoyed by their 265 yards in the second half, sparked by Ricky Henrilus, who rushed
for 75 yards on just eight carries in the second half. Devin Bowers finished with 65
yards on 18 carries, while Ryan Stanley passed for 220 yards on 13 of 19
passing, tossing a trio of TD strikes, against no picks.
Stanley threw a pair of TD passes to Chad Hunter (six yard, 91 yards) and one to Kareem Smith good for 16 yards. Chaviss Murphy led the Rattler receivers with four catches for 59 yards, followed by Hunter with two grabs for 97 yards and two TDs.
Redshirt freshman kicker Khalil Clark of Tallahassee Lincoln
hit a pair of field goals in the game, a 22-yarder for FAMU’s first points of
the game with 25 seconds left in the first period, and a 35-yarder to open the
fourth quarter.
Linebacker Jakaris Wilson had a season-high 15 total tackles
Saturday against the Pirates, including seven (7) solo stops, one sack and one
tackle for loss.
But the penalty bug bit the Rattlers badly in the second
half, as the Orange and Green was flagged 13 times for 127 yards in the final
two quarters for a game total of 15 flags for 142 yards. Hampton, meanwhile
was flagged just seven times in the game for 53 yards, and only twice for 10
yards in the second half.