WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Hampton University football team ended a difficult 2014 season in trying fashion Saturday afternoon at Greene Stadium, as rival Howard hung on for a 30-29 victory.
 
The Pirates finished their first season under head coach Connell Maynor 3-9 overall and 2-6 in MEAC play.
 
Freshman running back Eric Carter Jr. (Fayetteville, N.C.) recorded his third 100-yard rushing game of the season – and his second in a row – carrying the ball 23 times for 103 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
 
Freshman quarterback Jerrell Antoine (Orlando, Fla.) threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns, marking his second straight 200-yard passing game.
 
Redshirt sophomore wideout Twarn Mixson (Charlotte, N.C.) caught a team-high seven passes for 78 yards and a score, while redshirt sophomore wide receiver Rashawn Proctor (Hampton, Va.) had five catches for 70 yards.
 
Junior linebacker Joshua Thorne (Oxon Hill, Md.) led the defense with 12 tackles, while junior linebacker Tyrone Ward (Oakland, Calif.) added 11 stops.
 
The Pirates took a 29-27 lead with 3:38 left in the contest after sophomore kicker Anthony Prevost (Chesterfield, Va.) hit a 25-yard field goal, but the fourth quarter being the back-and-forth affair that it was, Howard answered on the next possession on a 17-yard field goal from John Fleck.
 
That kick gave the Bison (5-7, 3-5 MEAC) a 30-29 lead with 21 seconds left.
 
Prevost had a shot to win the game in the waning moments, lining up a 54-yard field goal with just one second left on the clock. But the kick fell short and Howard hung on for the win.
 
The Bison struck first on Saturday, when Wiliam Parker scored from eight yards out to cap a 3-play drive with 9:54 left in the first quarter to go up 7-0.
 
The Pirates responded near the beginning of the second quarter, though, capping off an 11-play, 61-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from redshirt-junior running back Christopher Dukes (Mobile, Ala.) to tie the game at 7-7 at the 14:08 mark.
 
That score capped off a run of 26 unanswered points for the Pirates; in fact, Hampton scored twice more in the second quarter – on a 34-yard pass from Antoine to Mixson at the 13:23 mark following a Howard interception and on a pass from Antoine to junior wideout SeQuan Gooding (Chesapeake, Va.) at the 1:33 mark – to go into the half with a 19-7 lead.
 
Dukes registered his second rushing touchdown of the day with 8:04 left in the third quarter, finding the endzone from two yards out to give the Pirates a 26-7 lead.
 
But Howard answered with 20 unanswered points, starting with a 24-yard touchdown run from Greg McGhee with 5:23 left in the third quarter that cut Hampton's lead to 26-13. That lead shrank to 26-20 with 2:24 left in the third, when Aquanius Freeman scored from two yards out.
 
Freeman added a 6-yard touchdown with 7:04 left in the fourth quarter to give the Bison a 27-26 lead.
 
The Pirates racked up 490 yards of total offense, 250 on the ground and 240 in the air.
 
For more information on Hampton University football, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.