N.C. A&T’s 21-point second quarter carries Aggies to 31-20 win over Florida A&M

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Coming into North Carolina A&T’s road game against Florida A&M, Aggies quarterback Lamar Raynard had 17 touchdown passes, one interception and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s most efficient passer title.

Both teams finished the first quarter Saturday tied 7-7, so Raynard went to work in the second quarter, tossing two 14-yard touchdowns and a 4-yard pass to give N.C. A&T a commanding 21-point lead over the home team. That three-touchdown cushion going into the half proved crucial, as the Aggies (7-0, 4-0 MEAC) only scored a field goal in the second half in their 31-20 victory over the Rattlers (2-5, 1-3 MEAC).

A homecoming crowd of 25,067 at Bragg Memorial Stadium watched as Raynard completed all but eight of his 23 passes in the first half for 193 yards and FAMU quarterback Ryan Stanley threw a second-quarter interception that set up Raynard’s third score of the quarter. The Rattlers posed little resistance to the Aggies, who were 8-of-9 on third down.

The home team attempted to claw its way out of the hole with a big kickoff that placed the ball on FAMU’s own 45-yard line. That eventually led to Devin Bowers — who had a 100-yard rushing afternoon, his third of the season — scoring his second rushing touchdown of the game.

After another Stanley interception, his second of the afternoon, the Aggies made good on a field goal and Stanley was benched until the end of the quarter. He’d come back in and redeem himself with a fourth-quarter touchdown, but FAMU couldn’t do anything else offensively to threaten the Aggies’ imposing lead.

For the first time in almost three-quarters of a decade, N.C. A&T is 7-0. The last time the team did that was in 1943.