NC A&T Aggies Win the Black National Football Championship

ATLANTA, GA – The North Carolina A&T State Aggies defeated the Alcorn State Braves 24-22 to win the 2018 Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl and become the Black National Champions for the second consecutive year. 

Aggies redshirt quarterback Lamar Raynard went 18-30 passing for 292 yards passing with one interception and two touchdowns passing. 

The Aggies scored on the opening drive of the game, redshirt senior quarterback Lamar Raynard threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Zachary Leslie who ended the day with six receptions for 119 yards receiving and one touchdown receiving. The Aggies were up 7-0 with 12:32 left in the first quarter. 

“…The first touchdown, I believe it was a post to Zach, we just wanted to take advantage of the defensive backs,” Raynard said. “The offensive line protected very well.” 

After a three-and-out on their first drive, the Braves offense picked up momentum on their next drive following a short Aggies drive. The Braves were able to advance the ball into Aggies territory, however, the drive stalled, and they settled for a 29-yard field goal conversion from junior kicker Corey McCullough to make the score 7-3 with 2:52 left. 

By the end of the quarter, Raynard went 4-8 passing with 102 yards passing and one touchdown passing. However, at the start of the second quarter both defenses settled in and gave the opposing offensive sides trouble.

After initial success on the drive, the Braves were forced to punt. On the ensuing drive the Aggies went three-and-out. 

The Braves started the ensuing drive on their own 26-yard line. A few plays later, on a third-and-8 play, Braves redshirt junior quarterback Noah Johnson’s pass was intercepted by redshirt senior corner back Timadre Abram and he ran the ball back to the Braves 27-yard line. 

With good field possession, the Aggies couldn’t advance the ball 10 yards. Aggies sophomore kicker Noel Ruiz squeaked in 36-yard field goal to put the Aggies up 10-3 with 8:33 left in the half. 

The next scoring drive of the game began with 3:23 left in the half. After five plays, the Aggies offense finally put six points on the scoreboard off a 27-yard touchdown pass from Raynard to sophomore wide receiver Elijah Bell.

With this score, Bell snagged his 25th career touchdown reception and tied the school-record for most touchdowns receiving. He also finished the day with six receptions for 68 yards receiving and one touchdown receiving.  

The Braves offense trotted out onto the field with 0:53 left in the half at their own 25-yard line. Still, the Braves were able to move the ball down the field and they call a timeout at the Aggies 34-yard line with 0:13 left in the half.

On the ensuing play Johnson connected with redshirt freshman wide receiver Juan Anthony Jr. on a 26-yard pass. Johnson hurried to the line to spike the ball with 0:04 left on the clock at the Aggies 8-yard line 

McCullough converted a 25-yard field goal to take the game to halftime.

After 30 minutes of play the Aggies were leading the Braves 17-6. At halftime, the Aggies had five yards rushing, 197 yards of total offense and the Braves had 70 yards rushing, 169 yards of total offense. Raynard went 12-20 for 192 yards passing for two touchdowns passing. 

The Braves got the ball coming out of halftime and defense continued to be the dominant theme.  

The Braves went three-and-out and were forced to punt. On the Aggies ensuing drive Raynard was intercepted by redshirt senior Braves redshirt senior free safety Brady Smith after four plays with 10:35 left in the third quarter .

Later in the third quarter, after driving all the way down to the Braves 9-yard line from their own 32-yard line, the Aggies were knocking on the Braves doorsteps. However,  a botched long snapper-holder exchange resulted in a turnover on downs and gave the ball back to the Braves on their own 14-yard line with 5:57 left in the third quarter. 

From this point, the momentum started to shift from the Aggies to the Braves. After the Aggies defense was gashed up the middle by a 48-yard rush by Braves junior running back, and Atlanta native, De’Shawn Waller. The Braves capped off the drive with a 30-yard rushing touchdown by Johnson.  

This brought the score margin to four as the Aggies were up 17-10 with 4:29 left in the third quarter. After a huge a three-and-out by the Aggies and a 54-yard rush by Waller on the next play. The Aggies defense forced the Braves to settle for a 29-yard field goal by junior kicker Corey McCullough. 

Suddenly, the Aggies were only up 17-16 and the Aggie sideline started to tighten up. On the ensuing kickoff, first team All-MEAC return specialist, Malik Wilson, ran the kickoff back 79-yards for a touchdown with 0:38 seconds left in the third quarter extending the Aggie lead to 24-16. 

“(Wilson) shows up,” Aggies head coach Sam Washington said. “That’s what makes that young man special.” 

After a holding call on the kickoff by the Braves, the started the drive on their own 8-yard line. Still the Braves orchestrated at 9 play, 92-yard drive that was capped off by an electric 59-yard rushing touchdown by Johnson with 11:55 left in the game. 

Down 24-22, Braves head coach Fred McNair left his offense out on the field for a 2-point try. Johnson threw pass to junior wide receiver Chris Blair in the end zone. Even though Blair caught the ball initially and had one foot down, he was unable to control the ball through ground. The play was called incomplete on the field and was confirmed after a replay review. Still McNair was upset about the call. 

“…And the 2-point conversion,” McNair said when asked about big momentum plays. “It’s questionable man. I can accept the kickoff return but, you know, it’s not an explanation for why it wasn’t a catch. I can’t” 

After two consecutive failed scoring drives. The Aggies offense retained the ball with 5:55 left in the game and would not relinquish it. Raynard connected with redshirt senior running back Marquell Cartwright and and redshirt junior wide receiver Isaiah Hicklin on critical third down plays to extend the drive. 

The Aggies ran the clock out to win 24-22 and became the Black National Champions once again.  

The Braves (9-4, SWAC 6-1) finished their season in another loss to the Aggies in the Celebration Bowl.

With today’s victory, the Aggies (10-2, MEAC, 6-1) senior class played their final game in an Aggie uniform. The Aggies senior class earned the program three Black National Championships (2015, 2017 and 2018). 

“I really can’t describe it,” said Raynard when asked about the significance of today’s win for the senior class. “It really hasn’t hit me yet. This senior class, we put in a lot of work. So as the whole team. The senior class, we put in work and imma miss my guys and I’m glad we could go out on top today because we really wanted this as a team and as a senior class.”