HAMPTON, Va. – The Pirates of Hampton University (2-1, 1-0 MEAC) pulled a rabbit out of their hat Saturday night, scoring 38 second-half points to go onto a 38-27 victory over Howard University in the Battle of the Real HU in front of a crowd of over 14,000. This was the Pirates’ season opener as well as both teams’ first MEAC game.

 

The difference maker in the game for the Pirates was their special teams, as they scored two touchdowns behind senior wide receiver Kevin Teel. Teel (Bowie, Md.) returned two kickoffs for touchdowns – one for 87 yards and the second for 90. 

 

“Special teams are a key part of a football game and if you want to win they have to perform well and we were lucky to get two touchdowns off our special teams tonight,” said head coach Jerry Holmes. “Howard is a great team and they threw some different things at us tonight defensively, but we did a great job adjusting in the second half.”

 

The first half of play saw only one score and that was off a 12-yard pass by Floyd Hailgler to receiver Willie Carter for six points. The Pirates defense, led by Wakeem Goode (Cleveland, Ohio), held the Bison off for the remainder of the half, but at the same time the Pirates could not get in the red zone either.

 

Coming into the second half, the Pirates made some key adjustments to get some points on the board. The Pirates would get on the board off a 19-yard field goal by Carlo Turavani (Ontario, Canada) after a 50-minute delay due to some power issues. Following the field goal, the Pirates’ defense forced a fumble that would later turn into a 62-yard touchdown pass for Herbert Bynes (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) to Justin Brown (Dover, N.J.) for the Pirates’ first touchdown of the night.

 

The Bison would not go gently into that good night, as they mustered up a 4-play, 75-yard drive for their second touchdown of the night. The Pirates refused to be outdone, as Teel took his first of two kick off returns back for a touchdown.

 

After that point, the Bison would go on to score 13 more points, while the Pirates scored 21 more to carry them to their second victory of the season.

 

Bynes got off to a slower start Saturday night and only threw for 253 total yards and also threw two picks, but the story for Hampton was the 124 yards rushing by LaMarcus Coker (Nashville, Tenn.). Coker carried the ball 16 times for the Pirates and gained 126 yards, with his longest of 49 yards. Coker also had 42 yards receiving.  

 

Also standing out was Teel, who did something against the Bison that has not been done since 2002 by running those two kickoffs back. Brown was the go-to guy for Bynes yet again, as he had five receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns.

 

Leading the defense once again was Goode who had 14 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss of 11 yards and an interception for the Pirates in the victory.

 

Haigler led the Bison as he finished the night passing for an impressive 456 yards, becoming the second player in Howard history to throw for over 400 yards on the Pirates. On the receiving end, Carter and Brandon Sharman both had over 100 yards receiving.

 

The Pirates will be back in action next Saturday as they host the Aggies of North Carolina A&T back at Armstrong Stadium. Kick-off is slated for 6 p.m. For more information, visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com or contact the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811.