Freshman quarterback leads Howard to first victory

Howard Freshman quarterback Jameson Bryant looks for an open receiver in the win over Lake Forest. Photo by Ben Fulton

The Howard Wildcats secured their first win of the season on homecoming Thursday night at Abessinio stadium.

Freshman quarterback Jameson Bryant passed for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the 18-12 win over visiting Lake Forest.

Howard also gained 136 rushing yards paced by Amir Maddrey’s 82 yards on 14 carries.

Lake took an early 6-0 lead as Darius Miller returned the opening kickoff to the Howard 41.

Several running plays later, junior quarterback Jackson Parson scored from a yard out. The conversion run failed, and the score would remain the same until late in the half.

With 9:35 left in the second quarter, the Wildcat’s defense forced a turnover on downs with a goal-line stand.

The young freshman then engineered a 96-yard drive that included a “4 th down and one” conversion deep in his own end of the field.

The time-consuming possession culminated in a 16-yard touchdown run by Amir Maddrey to tie the game with 1:11 to go.

That momentum-changing drive lasted more than eight minutes.

However, Howard wasn’t done.

An interception by Dafeer Portis gave the Wildcats another opportunity and they took full advantage. Bryant passed to Korey Manley in the endzone for the go-ahead score with :07 seconds left.

That gave Howard two scores in barely a minute, completely changed momentum in the game, and gave the home team a 12-6 halftime advantage.

Both teams scored in the third quarter as Bryant completed his second touchdown pass of the game, this time to Suhayl Benson for 34 yards.

Lake quarterback Parson cut the lead to 18-12 late in the quarter on a 2-yard run.

Lake had one final chance with less than 2:00 minutes to play at the Wildcat 25, but an incomplete pass on fourth down sealed the win for Howard.

After the game, Bryant told us, “I watched a lot of film on their defense. I made my chances. Honestly, last week wasn’t so good. We should have beat Woodbridge, but today was different.”

Howard will begin district play versus Wilmington Friends on October 5 th while Lake also will start district play against Sussex Tech next week.