MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Marco Peery's 52-yard field goal attempt as time expired caught the crossbar and fell away, and Norfolk State's rally from 17 points down ended two points short in a 33-31 loss to Robert Morris on Saturday at Joe Walton Stadium.
The Spartans scored 21 unanswered points across the third and fourth quarters to take a 31-27 lead with 3:27 to play, their first lead since the opening quarter. Robert Morris needed 1 minute, 56 seconds to answer, and Carson Haggard's 10-yard touchdown pass to Jaqai Carter with 1:25 left put the Colonials back in front.
DaJean Golmond then drove Norfolk State 61 yards in nine plays, converting a fourth-and-10 from his own 47 with an 18-yard completion to Jalyn Daniels, before the drive stalled at the Robert Morris 35. Peery's attempt from 52 had the distance and not the height.
Norfolk State falls to 3-3. Robert Morris improves to 3-2.
The play that decided it
With the Spartans trailing 7-14 and lining up for a 55-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half, Jake Walker's attempt was no good. Tahseen Howard fielded it in the end zone and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown.
A possession that was going to be worth three points at most instead cost seven. In a game decided by two, it was the swing.
Norfolk State answered with a six-play, 63-yard drive in 36 seconds, Peery converting from 32 with five seconds on the clock to make it 10-21 at the break. But the Colonials' only lead of more than one score came directly from that return.
Down 17, and then not
Robert Morris pushed the margin to 10-27 on Haggard's 22-yard touchdown to Carter early in the third quarter. Carter's third score of the day, it came with a missed extra point that would matter later.
From there the Spartans got everything back:
- Third quarter, 7:18 — nine plays, 58 yards, ending on a trick play. Brevin Caldwell threw six yards to Golmond for the touchdown, the quarterback catching the pass he usually throws
- Fourth quarter, 7:36 — 13 plays, 74 yards, 5:48 off the clock, finished by Golmond's 2-yard touchdown pass to Kiron Benjamin on third-and-2
- Fourth quarter, 3:27 — four plays, 72 yards in 2:41, opened by a 59-yard strike to Jason Wonodi and capped by a 3-yard touchdown to Paul Billups II
The 21-point run put Norfolk State ahead 31-27 and marked the first time the Spartans had led since the opening quarter.
Golmond's day
Making his second career start, Golmond completed 27 of 45 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and caught a fourth touchdown himself.
The 371 yards are the seventh-most in a game by a Norfolk State quarterback, a list topped by Aaron Sparrow's 516 against Winston-Salem State in 1994. His 27 completions are the eighth-most in a game and his 45 attempts rank fifth.
His 376 yards of total offense rank eighth in program history for a single game — and break the mark he set a week earlier at Chicago State, which already sat in the top 15. In two career starts, the freshman owns two of the best single-game total offense performances Norfolk State has ever had.
As a team, Norfolk State threw for 377 yards, tied for the fourth-most in a single game in school history, on 46 attempts that tie for fifth. The four passing touchdowns tie for fifth.
Elyjah Mitchell led the receivers with five catches for 81 yards, including a 58-yard catch that set up the Spartans' first-half field goal. Rocco Ciocca caught three for 69 yards and the game's opening touchdown. Caldwell caught six for 60 to go with his touchdown pass, and Wonodi's three receptions went for 64 yards.
Norfolk State finished with 491 yards of total offense to Robert Morris' 366, converted all three of its fourth downs and scored on all five trips to the red zone.
The fake, and other things that worked
Facing fourth-and-5 at his own 26 in the second quarter, Peery took the snap and ran 19 yards for a first down. The drive eventually reached the Robert Morris 38 and ended with the missed field goal and the return, but the fake was the kind of call that says a staff is playing to win on the road.
Peery also handled punting duties, averaging 38.2 yards on four attempts with two inside the 20 and a long of 51.
Defensively, Josiah Davis intercepted Haggard at the Norfolk State 1-yard line in the second quarter to end a drive that had reached the 6. Quintin Goins sacked Haggard for a 12-yard loss on third-and-8 from the NSU 8 in the third quarter, pushing the Colonials out of range and forcing a 37-yard attempt that missed.
Rontravious Perry led the Spartans with seven tackles. Brenden Thompson added five and two quarterback hurries.
Norfolk State did not turn the ball over and was flagged seven times for 70 yards, a sharp improvement on the 12 penalties for 136 yards a week earlier.
What got away
Carter was the problem the Spartans could not solve. The Robert Morris receiver caught nine passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns, including the 48-yarder that set up the winning score and the 10-yarder that delivered it.
Robert Morris ran for only 70 yards on 29 carries, a 2.4-yard average, but Haggard threw for 296 and four scores on 28 attempts — 10.6 yards per throw.
THE RECORD BOOK
Team
| Mark |
Result |
Context |
| Passing yards, game |
377 — ties for 4th |
Ties 377 at Howard, 10/12/19. Record is 476 vs. Morgan State, 11/17/18 |
| Passing touchdowns, game |
4 — ties for 5th |
Record is 6 at Morgan State, 9/26/98 |
| Passing attempts, game |
46 — ties for 5th |
Ties 46 at Delaware State, 9/23/17 and vs. Howard, 11/1/97 |
DaJean Golmond, individual
| Mark |
Result |
Context |
| Passing yards, game |
371 — 7th |
Record is Aaron Sparrow, 516, vs. Winston-Salem State, 10/8/94 |
| Completions, game |
27 — 8th |
Record is Nico Flores, 30, vs. Howard, 9/15/12 |
| Attempts, game |
45 — 5th |
Record is Willie Mitchell, 49, at VMI, 9/20/03 |
| Passing touchdowns, game |
3 — ties for 11th |
|
| Total offense, game |
376 — 8th |
Passes Chris Walley's 374 at Old Dominion, 11/26/11. Breaks Golmond's own 356 from a week earlier at Chicago State, which ranks 12th |
GAME NOTES
- Norfolk State scored 21 unanswered points from the 7:18 mark of the third quarter to 3:27 of the fourth, erasing a 17-point deficit
- The Spartans led for 3:27 of the second half and lost by two
- DaJean Golmond: 27-of-45, 371 yards, 3 passing touchdowns, no interceptions — and caught a touchdown pass from Brevin Caldwell
- Robert Morris missed two extra points. Had the Colonials made both, Peery's 52-yard attempt at the buzzer would have tied rather than won
- Tahseen Howard's 100-yard return of a missed field goal was the game's only non-offensive touchdown and the margin of the result
- Norfolk State was 5-for-5 in the red zone and 3-for-3 on fourth down, and did not commit a turnover
- Marco Peery converted a fake punt for 19 yards on fourth-and-5 in the second quarter
- Jaqai Carter caught nine passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns for Robert Morris
- Penalties fell from 12 for 136 yards a week earlier to seven for 70
- Norfolk State's 377 team passing yards tie for fourth-most in a single game in program history
- The Spartans' four passing touchdowns tie for fifth and their 46 attempts tie for fifth on the program's single-game lists
- Golmond's 371 passing yards rank seventh in program history for a single game
- Golmond's 27 completions rank eighth and his 45 attempts rank fifth among individual single-game performances
- Golmond's 376 yards of total offense rank eighth in program history, breaking the mark he set a week earlier at Chicago State
- In two career starts, Golmond has produced the 8th- and 12th-best single-game total offense performances in Norfolk State history
Up Next
Norfolk State returns home to William "Dick" Price Stadium to host Virginia-Lynchburg for Homecoming on [Saturday, Oct. 10 — confirm date]. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m., with the game broadcast on the MEAC Network.
