ORONO, Maine — Hampton University took advantage of the second University of Maine fourth-quarter fumble, cashing in on an eight-yard touchdown run by junior running back Elijah Burris with 1:48 remaining to cap a rally from a 14-point deficit and earn a wild 42-35 victory at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium on Saturday.
Hampton improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Coastal Athletic Association while UMaine fell to 2-8 and 1-6.
UMaine led 35-21 midway through the third period but the Pirates rallied to tie it.
With the score tied 35-35, UMaine had the ball on its own 31-yard line with six minutes left but UMaine running back Tristen Kenan fumbled and it was recovered by Hampton’s Tre Everett at the UMaine 38 yard line.
Eight plays later, Burris busted into the end zone from the eight.
UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens admitted that they purposely allowed the touchdown so they could get the ball back and not allow Hampton to run the clock down and kick a short field goal in the final few seconds.
UMaine had also lost a fumble on its previous possession when UMaine senior quarterback Derek Robertson and running back Brian Santana-Fis mishandled a handoff following a low snap from center.
“I’ll take the blame for that. You can’t have that happen,” said Robertson.
UMaine got the ball at its 25-yard line with 1:48 left but four incompletions ended it as the Hampton defense rose to the occasion.
Burris finished with 173 rushing yards on 14 carries and four touchdowns. He was injured on his game-winning TD run. Darran Butts ran for 77 on just five carries before sustaining an injury. Quarterback Chris Zellous ran for 67 yards on 10 carries and completed seven of 16 passes for 86 yards. Romon Copeland had three catches for 60 yards and a TD.
Hampton, boasting the CAA’s best rushing attack and the No. 9 rushing attack among 122 teams in the Football Championship Subdivision, produced 343 rushing yards on 34 carries for a whopping 9.5 yards per carry. They had three runs of at least 60 yards.
“Our goal was to stop the run and we didn’t get the job done. That’s what it comes down to,” said UMaine linebacker Vince Thomas.
Roberton threw five touchdown passes including three to tight end Rohan Jones and one apiece to Jamie Lamson and Cooper Heisey. He completed 28 of 46 passes for 349 yards. He was intercepted once. Lamson caught eight passes for 180 yards and Michael Monios snared six for 46 yards.
Kenan, who missed time due to injury earlier this season, rushed for 88 yards on 16 carries and caught five passes for 66 yards. Jones had four catches for 43 yards including the three TDs.
Robertson has now thrown 22 touchdown passes in his last six games.
However, the Black Bears were held scoreless over the game’s final 24:51.
“We had to settle in during the second half,” said Hampton graduate student linebacker Qwahsin Townsel. “Once we locked in on our keys, we were good from there.”
The Pirate defense limited UMaine to 88 passing yards in the second half after Robertson threw for 261 in the first half. The Pirates were able to get more pressure on Robertson in the second half and he was without injured leading wide receivers Joe Gillette and Montigo Moss.
Hampton football coach Robert Prunty said his team was “resilient” but had its hands full with a young Maine team.
“Maine has a good, young, tough football team. They gave us a fit. They played hard. We just made a few more plays than they did,” said Prunty. “They’re banged up. They haven’t had an open weekend. But they took us down to the wire.”
Robertson threw four touchdown passes in the first half as the Black Bears took a 28-14 lead into the intermission.
He found Jones in the corner of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown strike to open the scoring with 5:33 left in the first period.
But the Pirates responded immediately as a 68-yard run by Butts set them up at the UMaine-seven yard line and Burris dashed around left end on fourth-and-goal from the one yard line to tie it.
The Black Bears regained the lead on their next possession as UMaine marched 72 yards in nine plays.
Jones caught a Robertson pass at the five yard line and leaped into the end zone by the right corner flag. The play covered 10 yards.
Again the Pirates answered with a 60-yard scamper by Burris setting the stage for Zellous’ four-yard TD run.
Maine regained the lead just 2:40 later as Robertson tossed a 49-yard TD pass to an open Lamson.
The Black Bear defense stiffened on the next possession and forced a punt.
Jones broke through to block the punt and UMaine wound up with good field position at the H-45 yard line.
It took the Black Bears eight plays to reach the end zone as Robertson threw a one-yard pass to an open Heisey.
UMaine’s defense again held and the Black Bears moved the ball to the H-25 but freshman cornerback Darren Burton II broke up a pass and alertly dove to snare the ball after it popped into the air and was dropping to the ground.
It took the Pirates only 19 seconds to shave into the lead in the second half as Burris sprinted 80 yards untouched into the end zone on the second play of the half.
UMaine came right back to restore its two-touchdown lead with a seven-play 71-yard drive leading to a nine-yard pass from Robertson to Jones.
Copeland outduelled UMaine’s Abdul Stewart to haul in a 40-yard TD pass with 51 seconds left in the third period and Burris tied it with a seven-yard run at the 8:51 mark of the fourth quarter.
UMaine outgained Hampton 526-409.
“We had a real good first half and half a good third quarter. But we turned the ball over and didn’t get key stops, defensively,” said Stevens. “That was the game.”
DeAndree Faulk’s game-high 11 tackles and nine by Townsel and Tre Stafford paced Hampton’s defense while Xavier Holmes and Izaiah Henderson had six each for UMaine and Tyshawn Stewart had five.