Wingate, NC – Fayetteville State knew it had a tough task when preparing for the ranked Wingate Bulldogs. After giving up too much respect while committing four miscues and ten penalties, the Broncos dropped to 1-1 overall on the season after a 21-40 loss to 2-0 Wingate in Wingate, NC.
"In the first half, we didn't play well", said Head Coach Richard Hayes. "We gave up a couple gimmies early in the game and that kind of took away our momentum and they capitalize on our mistakes. That's a good football team and we can't make those mistakes in the first half and think that we are going to compete.
We allowed them to pick us apart in the first half, so we picked up the pressure and the guys covered decent in the second half.
This is a learning experience, and the season is not over. All our goals are obtainable. We're gonna go back to work and prepare for CIAA play."
Fayetteville State accounted for 415 yards of total offense compared to the Bulldogs' 406 yards.
Khari Lane threw for 356 yards after connecting on 25 of his 37 attempts. He hurled three touchdowns and one interception and was sacked twice. The longest heave was Lane's first pass of the game to
Braxton Knotts, which covered 46 yards. Knotts led all receivers with five receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown. The running back by committee saw its challenges tonight with a combined total of 59 yards on the ground.
The Broncos committed ten penalties which added up to 76 yards. Two of those penalties helped keep the Bulldogs offensive drive alive.
Wingate opened the game scoring on its first two drives for a 14-0 lead.
Johnnie Glaspie, who finished with 11 rushing yards and 33 reception yards, was on the receiving end of Lane's first touchdown pass with 14:45 remaining in the first half.
The Bulldogs scored two more touchdowns and kicked a field goal to take a 30-7 lead into intermission.
After the halftime break, Fayetteville State put together its fastest scoring drive of the night late into the third quarter. Lane commanded the offense 80 yards in five plays. He opened the drive with a six-yard dump to
Tyeous Sharpe and then threw a 22-yard spiral to
Toshiro Spivey. After
Donshel Jetton (who led the Broncos run game with 36 yards) covered 26 yards in two carries, Lane threw a 26-yard bomb to Sharpe as he streaked down the Bronco-sideline and crossed over into the endzone. The drive lasted a minute and 53 seconds.
All three of the Broncos' scoring drives were over 80 yards. The final score for FSU was with 6:49 left in the game. The 87-yard scoring drive ended on another Lane-to-Knotts connection which went 42 yards.
Before the last FSU score, Wingate increased its lead to 40-14 with a field goal and a touchdown.
The top four defenders for Fayetteville State were from the secondary unit, which collected 32 tackles. Defensive Back
Joshua Williams led all 10 stops.
Jerome Bentley finished with eight tackles.
Brandon Barnes-Brown, who finished with six tackles, pulled down the only interception for Fayetteville State.
Fayetteville State will have a BYE week before hosting Virginia State University in the Luther Nick Jeralds Stadium on Saturday, September 25
th at 7 pm.
