THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609150180
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 72 lines
Down 20-14 with less than four minutes remaining, Norfolk State defensive lineman John Green came up with a play of plays, causing Livingstone quarterback Pernell Wilder to fumble into his own end zone as the Spartans posted a 21-20 victory at Foreman Field.
After being knocked down by a Livingstone blocker, Green continued crawling on his belly after the back-pedaling Wilder, who was setting up for a screen pass. When Green clipped Wilder at the ankles, the ball went squirting into the end zone, where Spartans defensive back Robert Weaver fell on it with 3:26 left.
Steve Verdi then tacked on his third extra point of the evening and the Spartans' defensive unit didn't allow Livingstone beyond midfield in the final minutes.
The Spartans will take a 2-1 record and two-game winning streak to Jacksonville, Fla. Saturday where they will meet Bethune-Cookman at Jacksonville Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
``Big John is our leader and we're going to ride him from here out,'' said linebacker Andre Nixon, who had some big defensive plays of his own.
In fact, the Spartans scored all three of their touchdowns after turnovers by the Black Bears (2-1, 2-1).
After a scoreless first half, the Spartans opened the scoring less than three minutes into the second half when John Quinerly, who posted his third straight 100-yard rushing game with 102, went over from the 1 to close out a six-play, 30-yard drive.
That drive started after Weaver broke up a pass from Wilder to Torrense Stevenson, with Lydell Finley picking it off. A 15-yard face mask penalty at the end of the play gave the Spartans the ball at the Livingstone 30.
On Livingstone's next possession, Wilder fumbled while scrambling out of the pocket on third-and-6 from his own 37. Nixon caused the fumble and Christopher Smith fell on it at the Livingstone 28. Seven plays later, Robert Morris scored on a quarterback keeper as the Spartans went up 14-0 with 7:30 left in the third quarter.
The Bears didn't take long to get back into this one, marching 69 yards on nine plays and scoring when Wilmont Perry went over from the 3.
But Lonnie White blocked the point after by the Bears' Charles Cooley.
The Bears scored again with 9:05 left in the fourth when they went 79 yards on five plays, the big gain a 53-yard scamper down the left side by Perry. Wilder finished the drive on a 3-yard option keeper, then hit Shawn Foster on a two-point conversion pass to tie it at 14-all.
Matters seemed to completely unravel for the Spartans when Morris was picked off for the second time on the night, overthrowing Marty Conner on the next possession.
The Black Bears then went up 20-14 when Wilder reversed field on an option play and scampered 47 yards up the right sideline. Foster, however, was wide left on the extra-point attempt.
The Spartans got the ball back with seven minutes left, but were forced to punt from midfield with 3:38 remaining, with Livingstone setting up from its 16.
Morris completed just 13 of 29 pass attempts for 125 yards and shouldered the blame for the offense's ineffectiveness.
``They were blitzing a lot and I wasn't concentrating or paying attention,'' said Morris, who also dislocated the pinky finger on his throwing hand on the Spartans' last possession. ``I'm going to take this upon myself.''
``We were just trying to make up for that last letdown when John came up with that play,'' Spartans linebacker Sunnil Motley said. ``We felt we'd let down (on Wilder's 47-yard scoring run). It was up to us to win it somehow.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
Norfolk State cornerback Lydell Finley celebrates after Spartans
score tying touchdown in 4th quarter.
Photo by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
Norfolk State's Marty Conner has the ball knocked away by
Livingstone's Rashad Rogers Saturday in NSU's 21-20 victory. by CNB