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SPORTS
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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2013
Young Maroon Tigers Football Team Looks to Gel During the Season’s Second Half
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
PATIENCE.
With a young football team that is
experiencing the growing pains of having to
mature on the fly, Morehouse head football
coach Rich Freeman is cautioning Maroon
Tigers football fans that better days are on
their way for the football program.
“We’re a work in progress,” Freeman
said. “But I’d tell fans to be patient with the
guys. They are busting their tails out there
and doing everything they can to protect the
Morehouse legacy. “
Heading towards the middle of the
season, the Maroon Tigers had big wins over
Central State and Edward Waters, lost big
to Lane, but dropped fairly close games to
Howard and Clark Adanta.
Youth on the defensive side, particularly
among the linebackers and secondary, and inju
ries have hampered a promising season so far.
But there have been bright spots.
Freshman quarterback Monquavious
Johnson has come off the bench to enliven
the Maroon Tigers offense, while Shelton
Hamilton has anchored the running game.
Kick returner T.J. Williams ran back two
touchdowns against Central State and added
three more against Edward Waters.
On defense, Jamil Muhammad-Irvin
and Lance White are two of the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s lead
ing tackier.
So Freeman believes his team has the
pieces. They just need a litde time.
“I really feel like we are starting to get
healthier and I’m very optimistic about hav
ing some real excitement on the offensive
side of the football,” he said. “We’re excited
about the rest of the season. We’ve dropped
a couple of games and that kind of puts us
behind the eight ball and we’re playing catch
up. But bear with us and enjoy the big
plays, the excitement and look for better
things to come in the future.” ■
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T.J. Williams runs a touchdown during the Central State game.
March Toward SIAC Crown!
Maroon Tigers Basketball Team Opens Practice on Oct. 15
CROSS COUNTRY
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Juniors Cortez Nesbitt and Austin Anderson, and senior Darrius Williams are expected to lead the Maroon Tigers basketball team this season.
OCT. 15 HAS BEEN CIRCLED on head basketball coach
Grady Brewer’s calendar ever since his Maroon Tigers
lost in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
tournament championship game to Benedict.
That date is the official start of practice, as the
Maroon Tigers get ready for the 2013-14 season.
“You feel like you have unfinished business when you
get to a championship game, but don’t win it all,” Brewer
said. “So we feel ready to go to achieve the goal of winning
the SIAC championship and going even further.”
There will be a number of new faces on the floor
for Morehouse. Gone from last year’s 20-8 team are
standouts Andrae Nelson and Shawn Allen. Senior All-
SIAC player Darrius Williams returns, though he won’t
play until January. Williams has only one semester of
eligibility remaining after playing a semester while he
played football a few years ago.
“But we’ve got some new guys, some young guys
and a couple of junior college transfers that we think
are going to step up to the plate,” Brewer said. “And
we’re looking for junior guard Austin Anderson to step
up as well as junior forward Cornez Nesbitt.”
The Maroon Tigers face ACC power North
Carolina State in an exhibition game in Raleigh on
Nov. 2. They open the regular season in the HBCU
Tip-Off Classic at Philips Arena on Nov. 8 against
Johnson C. Smith, Nov. 10 against Virginia Union and
Nov. 11 against Texas Southern.
“Last year, the fans did a tremendous job for
us,” Brewer said. “This year, we want to push that to
another level because the fans are our sixth man. We’re
asking everyone for the support because that’s what
pushed us over the hump. Alumni students, faculty
and staff, let’s pack the House!” ■
Hill Believes Preparation
Is Key for Another Cross
Country Championship
BY DAVID T. PARKER JR.
COMING OFF AN EARLY October meet
win at the Mercer Endurance Alchemy
Invitational held in Macon, Ga., the
Morehouse cross country team seeks to
retain the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference title while setting their sights
on the regional championship that eluded
them last year.
For that to happen, head coach Willie
Hill said his team has to focus on one
intangible.
“Preparation,” he said. “People ask all
the time, how have we won so many cham
pionships? The only thing I can see is we
have done more of the things that it takes
to win championships than the people we
are going against.”
Hill believes that championship quali
ties of diligence, persistence and prepara
tion has manifested in his runners.
The Maroon Tigers are the SlAC’s top
team and have been ranked in the Top Ten of
the United States Track and Field and Cross
Country Coaches Southern Region all season.
The team is led by sophomore Mohammed
Dahir, who has been the SlAC’s male Cross
Country Runner of the Week four consecutive
weeks with wins in two consecutive meets.
The Maroon Tigers close out the regu
lar season with meets in Oxford, Ala., and
West Point, Ga., before defending their title
in the SIAC Championships the weekend
of Oct. 25. The NCAA Division II South
Regional is a week later in Tampa, Fla. ■