THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511050234
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DURHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The last thing Aaron Sparrow needed to do the night before his final collegiate game was sleep the wrong way on his separated left shoulder.
When he awakened to throbbing pain Saturday, he feared the worst.
When he took the field at North Carolina Central that afternoon, it was the Eagles who became the fearful ones.
Sparrow threw for 438 yards and three touchdowns as the Norfolk State Spartans closed their season with a 27-6 victory at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium. It was the seventh 400-yard game of Sparrow's career.
``It was painful every time I stepped into it,'' said Sparrow, who sustained a second-degree separation of his non-passing shoulder in last week's win over Johnson C. Smith.''
Sparrow winced through the afternoon and felt the shoulder ``pop'' after hits on three occasions. But that didn't stop him from attempting a school-record-tying 57 passes, 30 of which he completed.
None of his completions were bigger than his third of the day. After two soft screen passes to John Quinerly to open the game, Sparrow rifled a crossing pass to James Roe. The All-American receiver couldn't handle it, but the deflected ball was caught by teammate Darius Blount, who rambled for a 66-yard touchdown.
``I was running my pattern about five yards behind Roe and I thought the ball might pop out,'' said Blount, who caught five passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns.''
Blount hauled in another 21-yard scoring pass near the end of the first quarter that gave the Spartans (7-3, 6-2 CIAA) a 13-0 lead.
The Spartans offense continued to move the ball, but stalled inside N.C. Central's 20 three times in the second quarter.
``Part of that was because they were double-teaming Roe,'' Norfolk State coach Darnell Moore said. ``Part of it was because we were keeping extra guys in to block and protect Aaron because they were blitzing a lot.''
Norfolk State's defense, somewhat maligned during the year, saw it as an opportunity to step up.
The linebacking corps of Chris Hall, Robert Johnson, Sunnil Motley and Donald Broussard had its best day of the season, as the defense gave up its fewest points all year.
Johnson had a game-high seven tackles, Hall had two interceptions and Broussard one and Motley was all over the place.
The Eagles (4-6, 3-4) cut Norfolk State's lead to 13-6 in the third quarter when Cornelius Redfearn found Antoine Calloway on an 8-yard scoring pass.
But Sparrow responded with a 22-yard scoring pass to Ronald Boone, who finished with eight receptions for 118 yards.
Jerry Davis added a 14-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter for the final margin.
Sparrow finished with 3,434 yards passing this season, completing 238 of 409 attempts for 32 touchdowns. All four totals broke single-season school records Sparrow established as a junior.
He finished the season with 3,300 total offensive yards and must wait until next week to see if his 330-yard average stands up to lead Division II. His closest competitor, Valdosta State quarterback Lance Funderburk, entered Saturday's action averaging just over 320 yards total offense per game.
Norfolk State's only negative on the afternoon was that Roe's streak of 15 consecutive games with a touchdown reception ended.
Roe caught seven passes for 105 yards, but did it against double coverage that denied him any chance to get into the end zone. Sparrow played to the game's final down in an effort to get Roe a touchdown reception.
``I wanted it for him because he's the best,'' Sparrow said. by CNB