For the second week in a row, Norfolk State (4-6, 0-3) had a big lead and lost it, falling to North Carolina Central (5-5, 3-0), 29-28, on Saturday at William “Dick” Price Stadium.
Norfolk State had a chance to win the game late, but kicker Marco Peery missed a 37-yard field goal with four seconds left. Norfolk State kicker Jake Walker missed a 25-yard field goal earlier in the fourth that would have given the Spartans an eight-point lead.
North Carolina Central quarterback Joshua Jones connected with wide receiver Mehki Wall for a 26-yard touchdown with 27 seconds left.
That touchdown came after Norfolk State recovered a North Carolina Central fumble late and had a chance to run out the clock.
After Norfolk State’s first-down run, the Eagles had no timeouts with just over 90 seconds left in the fourth, but Norfolk State quarterback Deljay Bailey inexplicably ran the ball and was stripped and fumbled. North Carolina Central’s John Clifford Jr. recovered.
Norfolk State head coach Michael Vick said he had called for victory formation.
“I don’t know what happened at the end of the game,” Vick said after the loss. “I put my headset down, I called victory formation. All we had to do was just take a knee and nail the clock out. That’s just situational football. I don’t know what happened in regards to that. I looked up, and we was running the ball, and then I seen the fumble. But my final instructions was victory formation. That’s when you kneel it out, and they had, I think, zero timeouts left, and the game was over practically.”
After another bad loss, Vick said the coaches have to be held accountable.
“It’s always tough when you put yourself in a position to win it, and it doesn’t happen,” he said. “I feel really bad for the players. We clearly had that game won. Sometimes we have to take accountability as coaches.”
Additionally, Vick’s decision to kick the possible game-winning field goal with eight seconds remaining and one timeout left was questionable. He could have run another play to get the Spartans closer and make the field goal a little easier for his kicker.
Last week, the Spartans, who haven’t won a MEAC game during Vick’s tenure, blew two 17-point leads against Delaware State; this week, they blew a 14-point halftime lead and an 11-point fourth-quarter lead.
Norfolk State could easily be 2-1 in the MEAC, but now they are 0-3 with no shot at winning the conference.
After another narrow loss, Vick will have to keep his team’s spirits high.
Next week, Norfolk State goes on the road to face Morgan State, while North Carolina Central will also go on the road to battle South Carolina State.
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