ORANGEBURG, SC (Nov.9) –The Florida A&M Football team came up just short as South Carolina State pulled out a 25-21 win over the Rattlers, here Saturday afternoon at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium at Willie Jeffries Field.

Lemond Buice set up the Rattlers' first score of the game with a 58-yard kickoff return as James Owens went over the top from one-yard out with 11:53 to go in the first, capping off a six-play, 34-yard drive by the Rattlers, giving FAMU a 7-0 lead after the Chase Varnadore PAT.

 

 SCSU would cut FAMU's lead to 7-6 as Richard Cue connected with Dennis Rowe from 28-yards out with 3:27 to go in the first, capping a four-play, 38-yard drive by the Bulldogs.

 

FAMU would go up 14-6 as Buice scored from two yards out with 14:08 to go in the second, set up by an Akil Blount interception return to the SCSU two-yard line.

 

SCSU's Marriel Cooper cut FAMU's lead to 14-13 on 25-yard blocked punt return with 10:20 to in the first half.

A FAMU fumble and an SCSU third-and-21 conversion would set up the Bulldogs' next touchdown of the game as Cue scored from one-yard out on a quarterback sneak with 5:25 left in the half, giving SCSU a 19-14 lead.

Special teams would set up the Rattlers' next touchdown as James Owens recorded his longest kickoff return of the season with a 97 yard return.  Carson Royal, who came in for the injured Damien Fleming, connected with Casey Glines from eight-yards out for his first TD pass of the season with 5:06 to go in the second, giving the Rattlers a 21-19 lead going into the break.

 

Nick Belcher would connect on two field goals in the second half.   First he split the uprights with a 26-yard field goal with 11:11 left in the third and another from 28-yards out with 14:24 left in the fourth for the 25-21 finale.

 

For the second week in a row, Owens led the Rattler ground attack as he rushed for 46 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown.  In addition, he finished the contest with 156 yards of all-purpose yards including the kickoff return for 97 yards.

 

Damien Fleming started the game for FAMU at quarterback, finishing the game with 54 yards passing on four completions.  Royal finished the contest with 54 yards passing by completing seven passes in 18 attempts.

 

Michael Ducre led the Rattler defense as he tallied a game-high 11 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, followed by Bobby Jackson with seven tackles.

 

Justin Taylor led the Bulldogs' ground attack as he rushed for 42 yards on 19 carries with his longest rush being for 15 yards.

Cue finished the contest with 186 yards passing as he completed 13 passes in 25 attempts with one touchdown pass and two interceptions. 

 

Rowe led the Bulldog receivers with 69 yards receiving on three receptions with one touchdown.  FAMU will return to action on Sat., Nov. 16 as they will host Delaware State in their final home game of the season for Senior Day.