THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409110196
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Norfolk State, bearing almost no resemblance to the team that was waxed, 54-6, in its season opener last week, put together four solid quarters of football Saturday night to knock off North Carolina Central, 26-24.
The Spartans got an early lift from a flea-flicker pass that went for a 72-yard touchdown, then hung on to beat Central for the first time in nine years, in front of 8,600 at Foreman Field.
``This is the start of something here,'' coach Darnell Moore said.
Moore said the win, his first as a college coach, was sweeter than the two state titles he won at Portsmouth's Wilson High.
After last week's pasting, Moore wanted to get his team off to a fast start. They did so on the second play from scrimmage, when quarterback Aaron Sparrow hit James Roe for a 72-yard touchdown.
The play started with Sparrow handing off to John Quinerly, who handed the ball to receiver Darius Blount. Blount tossed it back to Sparrow, who lofted the ball to a wide-open Roe.
``I didn't get all of it,'' Sparrow said. ``But I got enough to get it to him.''
Norfolk State led, 6-0, with just 51 seconds gone. They pushed it to 14-0 just four minutes later, on a five-yard run by John Quinerly.
Central rallied to tie it at 14 at halftime, and the Eagles went up, 17-14, with 6:08 left in the third.
Norfolk State grabbed a 20-17 lead on a 1-yard run by Stanley Johnson with 9:33 left in the game, but Central answered immediately with a 55-yard drive and led, 24-20, with 6:34 to go.
But three fourth-quarter interceptions doomed Central. The first, by freshman Robert Rushing, gave the Spartans the ball on the Central 29 with 4:40 left.
Sparrow went to Roe on three straight downs, the final one going 8 yards for a touchdown.
Roe, a junior, caught seven passes for 155 yards and became the Spartans' all-time career leader with 106 catches.
``We wanted to get the ball to him more this week,'' Moore said.
The Spartans, victimized by eight turnovers last week, took advantage of six Central turnovers, including four interceptions, and committed just one of their own.
``We practiced our intensity, and holding onto the ball,'' Quinerly said.
The Spartans defense was noticeably more intense. And the offensive line bought enough time for Sparrow to throw for 247 yards.
``We looked at a lot of film of Central and made some adjustments,'' center Stanley Edmonds said. ``And Aaron picked up a lot of their blitzes.''
Still, it was Roe who Central could not contain. His record-tying catch was a circus grab, in the rain, at the Central 1-yard line. That set up a 1-yard scoring run by Stanley Johnson.
``This is a new start right here,'' Edmonds said. ``We know how it feels to win.'' by CNB