Sept. 20, 2014 Final Stats
ROCKY MOUNT, NC- Tory Mimbs' point after touchdown completed a furious fourth quarter comeback as the Benedict College Tigers shocked Elizabeth City State University 20-19 at the 17th Annual Down East Viking Football Classic.
Facing fourth and goal from the 8-yard line with four seconds remaining Cameron Stover exhausted the clock as he scrambled to find an open receiver. The Vikings lost track of Tyquan Bazemore who stood wide open in the back corner of the end zone and Stover found him tying the game at 19.
ECSU burned a timeout in hopes of freezing Mimbs' point after attempt but the ball split the uprights giving the Tigers a thrilling come from behind victory.
Benedict had the ball for only 3:44 in the fourth quarter but got their only two offensive touchdowns of the game during that span.
The Tigers pulled within a score early in the fourth quarter after a miscue turned the ball over to Benedict on downs at the Viking 35 yard line. Stover then got the Tigers' first offensive score of the game on a 35 yard TD pass to Kendariss Brown with 11:56 left.
Benedict also opened the contest on a on a tricky occurrence. After their game opening drive went three and out, a misplayed punt return grazed Antonio Huff making the pigskin live for the Tigers to advance. That's just what DeVonta Avery did, returning the fumble 50 yards for an early 7-0 lead.
ECSU responded quickly, taking a 13-7 lead with two first quarter touchdowns of their own. First they turned a short field to a score after an even shorter punt (9 yards by Mimbs) resulted in a 1-yard TD run by Kenny King tying the game at 7 apiece. On the Tigers next snap from scrimmage what, initially appeared to be an incomplete pass by Stover was ruled a fumble and recovery (Stephen Williams) at the Benedict 12.
Three plays later Tyrell Houghton hit Montario Hunter on a 9 yard TD pass but the all-important extra point failed and ECSU led 13-7.
The Vikings tacked on a 22 yard field goal for a 16-7 halftime advantage. Flores would add another field goal, this time from 21 yards out, to extend ECSU's lead to 19-7 with 9:46 left in the third quarter.
Although it was three big plays, all resulting in scores that sunk the Vikings, ECSU dominated almost every aspect of the game. They doubled up Benedict's rushing yards (149-47), first downs (22-11) and ran almost thirty more plays than the Tigers (82-53).
Special teams came up big in the Tigers' comeback as well. After spotting the first points of the afternoon, Benedict (2-1) blocked a punt attempt and also applied plenty of pressure on another punt attempt when they took the ball over on downs.
ECSU (1-2) will open up their conference schedule next Saturday when they travel to Winston- Salem, NC to take on Winston-Salem State University. Game time is scheduled for 6pm.
