Jon Gallo, The Examiner
2007-10-08 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

One play. It's unclear how the football seasons at Maryland, Towson, Johns Hopkins and Morgan State will transpire since each has as many as six games remaining. But this is clear: When each team reflects upon its season, each will likely point to one, season-altering snap that occurred on Saturday, a play that might turn an otherwise forgettable season into something memorable.

In College Park, the Terrapins are now very much alive to win the Atlantic Coast Conference's Atlantic Division and secure a berth in the conference championship game — all because Georgia Tech kicker Travis Bell just missed a potential game-winning, 52-yard field goal with 54 seconds remaining. It enabled Maryland to head into its bye week 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference following a 28-26 victory in front of 47,527 at Byrd Stadium.

“I thought our kids played with unbelievable effort, they faced tremendous adversity, again,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. “They just kept fighting and I'm really proud to be a part of it. Travis Bell is a heck of a kicker. He's very capable of making a 52-yard kick. It was a good football game and we're very fortunate to win it."

In Towson, the Tigers waited until the final play against 15th-ranked Richmond to save a season that was turning into one of the biggest disappointments in school history. It appeared the Tigers' downward spiral was going to continue after Spiders took a 21-17 lead with 29 seconds remaining.

But instead of wilting as Towson had done in each of its previous three games — all losses — the Tigers showed resolve. Towson began its possession with the ball on its 33-yard line with 22 seconds remaining. Junior quarterback Sean Schaefer completed passes 22-,7- and 24 yards to move the ball to Richmond's 14-yard line with four seconds remaining.

Schaefer capped his record setting day — he completed 29-of-33 passes, including a school-record 15 straight in the second half, to finish with 287 yards — by making his most important throw of the day. Schaefer scrambled before lofting a pass to Demetrius Harrison, who caught the ball in the corner of the end zone with no time remaining for a 23-21 victory.

“I don't think I was breathing before the play and after the play I am positive I wasn't breathing,” Harrison said. “It was great to have that type of celebration, it's something this team has been missing. We have been a very exciting team in the past and we missed it this year.”

After beating a ranked team, Towson (3-3 overall, 1-3 league) now has something to play for during the second half of the season. The Tigers will likely need to win their final five games - beginning with Saturday's Homecoming game against CAA-North Division-leading Hofstra (5-0, 2-0) — to contend for one of 16 berths in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

But the Tigers aren't the only local team believing it can qualify for the postseason. Fewer than 10 miles away from where Towson’s football players were celebrating at Johnny Unitas Stadium, Morgan State's players were reveling at Hughes Stadium.

Don't look now, but Morgan State — yes, that Morgan State that has not been to the postseason in 28 years — could join Towson in the FCS tournament if it wins its final Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference games. The Bears (3-3 overall, 2-1 league) posted a 22-17 victory over North Carolina A&T largely because they had running back Chad Simpson.

With Morgan State trailing 17-16, Simpson took a handoff and sprinted 46 yards into the end zone with 4:36 remaining to give his team a 22-17 victory, its second straight since ending a three-game losing streak.

“Good teams find a way to win, and this team proved today they are a good team,” Morgan State coach Donald Hill-Eley said. “When you've got to go 85 yards to score and drive down and make the play, that's something to be proud of.”

Simpson boasted before the season he would rush for 2,000 yards this fall, and he just might do it. Simpson rushed for 181 yards on 33 carries to give him 979 yards this season, meaning he'll have to average 205 yards during the next five games to accomplish the feat.

Next up for Simpson and Co.: a Homecoming game against Howard (2-3, 0-2) on Saturday afternoon at 1.

Johns Hopkins' players have had very little to be happy about since a season-opening victory over at Hampden-Sydney, but that changed on Saturday. The Blue Jays posted one of the biggest upsets by an area team when freshman Alex Lachman made a 40-yard field goal as time expired for a 20-17 victory over Centennial Conference-leading Dickinson at Biddie Field in Carlisle, Pa. The victory — the first by Johns Hopkins on the final play of a game since 2005 — ended the Blue Jays' four-game losing streak an improved their record to 2-4 overall and 1-3 in league play.

Lachman’s heroics culminated a game in which Johns Hopkins found a way to win the kind of game it had routinely lost the past few weeks. After Lachman missed a 43-yard field goal in the final minutes, Dickinson quarterback Ian Mitchell was driving his team into field-goal range when freshman A.J. Albert forced him to fumble. Albert fell on the loose ball on the Blue Jays' 47-yard line.

Johns Hopkins quarterback Michael Murray took over. He completed two passes for a total of 22 yards and added an eight-yard run to set up Lachman’s game-wining kick.

The win lifted Johns Hopkins from the last-place in the conference, and gave the young team much-needed confidence entering Saturday’s game against Ursinus (4-1, 2-1) at Homewood Field at 1.

“It’s a big win,” Johns Hopkins coach Jim Margraff said. “As much as we were able to close one out, you have to keep beating on the door before you can kick it in.”