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NORFOLK, Va. – Chris Walley passed for 265 yards and three touchdowns, and Randy Maynes ran 14 yards for the game-clinching touchdown with 7:43 left to lift Norfolk State to a 34-24 win over Hampton in the State Farm Battle of the Bay on Saturday evening at Dick Price Stadium.
The win is the Spartans' third straight home victory in the series with the Pirates (3-3, 1-2 MEAC) and helps NSU (6-1, 4-0) match its best start since the 2007 team also started 6-1.
Walley threw all of his TD passes in the first half, when the Spartans sprinted out to a 27-7 lead. Hampton rallied to within 27-24 in the fourth quarter, but Maynes' first TD run as a Spartan helped clinch NSU's fifth straight win.
NSU got on the board on its first possession as wideout Xavier Boyce turned a 3rd-and-20 screen pass into a 49-yard touchdown with 13:33 left in the first quarter. Ryan Estep's extra point made it 7-0.
A short Hampton punt into a stiff wind set up NSU at the Pirate 29-yard line on the next possession. Five plays later, Walley hit Victor Hairston on an 8-yard TD strike to make it 14-0.
Another short Hampton punt led to NSU's next score, Estep's 38-yard field goal with 4:14 left in the first quarter.
The Pirates got on the board on the last play of the first quarter as David Legree hit Dyrri McCain for a 10-yard TD pass, cutting HU's deficit to 10.
But the Spartans scored the only 10 points of the second quarter to take a 27-7 lead into the half. Walley hit tight end Joe Hawkins on a 35-yard touchdown pass with 8:13 left in the quarter. Hawkins' first collegiate TD made it 24-7.
Estep finished the first-half scoring with a 22-yard field goal, capping a 12-play, 86-yard drive to give NSU a 27-7 edge with 1:50 left in the quarter.
The Pirates mounted a rally in the second half thanks to some big plays on offense and NSU miscues. A Pirate sack and short NSU punt gave the Pirates a short field to work with. Legree capped the drive with a 4-yard TD pass to Reginald Hicks on fourth down with 6:55 left in the third quarter.
A 64-yard completion from Legree to Isiah Thomas set up Hampton's next touchdown, a 1-yard Jeremiah Schwartz run on the first play of the fourth quarter that sliced the Spartan lead to 27-21.
Two NSU possessions later, Spartan running back Takeem Hedgeman fumbled, and Courtney Bridget recovered at the NSU 27. But the Spartan defense stiffened and limited the Pirates to a 34-yard Taurean Durham field goal that made it 27-24 with 10:09 left.
The Spartans took the ensuing kickoff and needed just five plays to score, all of them runs with a Hampton person foul mixed in. Maynes carried the final two plays of the drive, covering 13 and 14 yards, to again put NSU ahead by two scores.
The Spartan defense did the rest, forcing a turnover on downs and getting an interception by freshman safety Keenan Lambert to close out the win.
Walley finished the game 20-of-35 for 265 yards with three scores and one interception to earn NSU MVP honors. Maynes had season highs of 16 carries for 72 yards for NSU, which outgained HU 473-303. Hairston had a game-high nine receptions for the Spartans, and Boyce had three grabs for 70 yards.
Legree was harassed into 14-of-36 passing for 193 yards. The Pirates ran 38 times for just 110 yards.
Defensively, linebackers Corwin Hammond and Onyemechi Anyaugo had 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. Anyaugo had 1.5 tackles for loss. Fellow linebacker Hasan Craig had eight tackles, including a career-best 2.5 sacks. Cornerback Marcus Cooperwood had four solo tackles, two for lost yardage, and a pass breakup.
NSU has a short week before its next contest, a nationally televised game with Bethune-Cookman starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night at Dick Price Stadium.
