The Bison football team opened their season with a 12-7 loss against cross-town rival Georgetown in the first ever DC Mayor's Cup game. The Bison held the lead for most of the game but they still came up short in the end. The Bison hurt themselves multiple times with careless plays, and they committed a total of five turnovers.
"You can't turn the ball over five times. We missed too many opportunities," said Bison head coach Carey Bailey. "They came in prepared, they knew what we wanted to do and they shut down our offense."
The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday at 1 p.m., but due to inclement weather the game was moved to Sunday. The Bison scored the first points of the game in the opening quarter. Junior starting quarterback Floyd Haigler threw a five-yard touchdown pass to freshman Willie Carter giving the Bison a 7-0 lead.
The Hoyas answered the touchdown with a field goal. The Bison took a 7-3 lead into the locker room at halftime. On the first possession of the second half bison running back Karlos Whitaker fumbled the ball. Both the Hoya and Bison defenses were dominant in the third quarter allowing no points.
"This game could have gone either way, Howard played an excellent game," said Georgetown head coach Kevin Kelley. "We made more plays down the stretch and I'm extremely happy that we won."
Early in the third quarter senior Hoya receiver Kenny Mitchell caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback James Brady. This touchdown put the Hoyas up for good.
"James looked at me when we called the play and said if it's one-on-one coverage use your speed to get open," Kenny Mitchell said. "We've been practicing that play all summer so it was very special to get that play called and have it be successful."
While the game was not pretty for the Bison there was a bright spot. It was the usual suspect senior linebacker Endor Cooper. Cooper was all over the field, and he had the most tackles in the game with 18 total.
"I had a good game but that doesn't matter because we still lost," Cooper said. "As a defense we gave up too many big plays."
Sunday's victory marks the first time in four years the Georgetown Hoyas have started off the season with a winning record. The Hoyas used a two-quarterback system Keerom Lawrence and James Brady. Lawrence a former wide receiver was used to be a runner and Brady was used to pass the ball. This two-headed attack kept the Bison defense off balance for most of the game.
Bison quarterback Haigler threw for 183 yards. Senior running back Karlos Whittaker rushed for 76 yards. However the Hoya defense was able to force turnovers which led them to victory. Sophomore defensive back Chris Rau led the Hoyas with nine tackles.
"Howard really should've won the game," said Devon Mayers, a sophomore legal communications major. "If they can cut down on the turnovers they will be a good team this season."
Even with all of the turnovers the Bison still had a chance to win the game. Their march down the field came to an abrupt halt when quarterback Haigler fumbled the ball with 42 seconds left in the game.
The Bison must now take on their archrival Hampton University in the highly anticipated battle of The HUs Saturday at Hampton.
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