These two college football programs are on very different trajectories in recent years.
The Eagles won the MEAC in 2022 and 2023 and claimed a Black college national championship in 2022. They won eight games in each of the last two seasons.
The Aggies have not won the MEAC and the Black college national championship in 2017, 2018 and 2019. They have not finished above .500 since 2022 with only four wins combined in each of the last two seasons.
North Carolina A&T entered the weekend at 0-2. North Carolina Central entered at 1-1. The latter jumped out to a 23-14 lead at halftime. It held on to win 30-22.
However, the football game was overshadowed by the band.
According to Kalan Hooks of Andscape, the North Carolina Central Sound Machine was preparing to take the field at halftime when a group of North Carolina A&T equipment staffers tried to walk through the middle. That is a big no no.
It is an unwritten rule in HBCU culture to never cut through an opposing marching band. Always go around. Never through.
With that in mind, the Sound Machine took issue with the Aggies’ staffers. They fought back. A scuffle ensued.
What started as some pushing and shoving very quickly escalated to punches thrown. Both sides landed a few shots.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and nobody was hurt! North Carolina Central’s Sound Machine marching band performed at halftime as scheduled and the Eagles won the football game.
The Game came down to the final play once again. For the first time in 11 years, the 98th Aggie-Eagle Classic was a one-score game deep into the fourth quarter. North Carolina Central held on to win 30-22, extending its winning streak in the rivalry to five straight games.
North Carolina Central North Carolina A&T: A Fast Start, Then a Long Delay
The hosts controlled the opening half. North Carolina Central scored on the game’s first drive, using eight plays to cover 75 yards. Nelson Layne capped it off, finding Mehki Wall for a 27-yard touchdown. Running back Plez Lawrence took over from there. He scored twice in the first half alone, including a 73-yard scamper that pushed the lead to 23-7. Then an hour and 41-minute lightning delay hit right at halftime, with North Carolina Central holding a 23-14 edge. Notably, the game’s original 6 p.m. kickoff had already been moved up to noon because of that same forecast.
Plez Lawrence’s Career Day
When the teams finally returned, Lawrence picked up right where he left off. He scored his third touchdown of the afternoon on a one-yard plunge. That capped a six-play drive that stretched the Eagles’ lead to 30-14 early in the third quarter. The score turned out to be the last one North Carolina Central would need. Even so, the fourth quarter didn’t make it feel that way. Lawrence finished the day as the clear offensive engine for North Carolina Central. His performance kept the Aggies chasing a deficit all afternoon long.
North Carolina A&T Won’t Go Quietly
North Carolina A&T had other plans, though. However, quarterback Kevin White connected with Elijah Kennedy twice for touchdowns, including a 51-yard strike in the first half. He finished the game 21 of 44 for 259 yards and three total scores. Kennedy caught seven passes for 112 yards on the afternoon. With 4:20 remaining, White found Anthony Rucker for a six-yard touchdown. He then hit Mark Tillman for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to eight. North Carolina A&T got the ball back and drove deep into Eagles territory. The Aggies reached the North Carolina Central 3-yard line with a real chance to tie the game.
The Play That Sealed It
That’s when the rivalry turned on a single penalty. An offensive pass interference call pushed North Carolina A&T back to the 18-yard line. On the very next play, Jakarri Martin II intercepted White to end the threat and clinch the win. It was a fitting way for North Carolina Central to close things out. The Eagles didn’t commit a single turnover all game. They also controlled the ball for more than 33 minutes, even as North Carolina A&T converted 10 of 17 third-down attempts and outgained them through the air.
What It Means for Both Programs
North Carolina Central improves to 2-1 on the season. The win also puts head coach Trei Oliver three victories shy of 50 for his head coaching career. North Carolina A&T, meanwhile, falls to 0-3 to open the year. Four turnovers and eight penalties for 80 yards proved costly for the Aggies. Kennedy, for his part, wasn’t discouraged afterward, noting that conference play hasn’t even started yet. Both teams still have plenty of season left to fix what went wrong, or build on what went right.
A Rivalry Built for Close Finishes
This wasn’t the first time these two programs have decided things late. North Carolina A&T won the very first Aggie-Eagle Classic back in 1994, and the series has swung back and forth through several eras since. Last year’s meeting wasn’t close, with North Carolina Central winning by more than 40 points. This year’s version was a completely different animal, and it’s the kind of finish that reminds both fan bases why the rivalry still matters more than a single line in the standings.
Taken together, the North Carolina Central North Carolina A&T rivalry lived up to its billing once again. Rain delays, penalties, and a fourth-quarter fight made the 98th meeting between these two programs feel every bit like the classic it’s built to be, even if this year’s final score was far tighter than last season’s blowout.
