The Celebration Bowl between FCS teams North Carolina A&T Aggies and Grambling Tigers was as close and exciting as it could have been, until the Tigers used a bit of fast trickery to grab the go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute left.
N.C. A&T quarterback Lamar Raynard faked a spike with about a minute remaining in the game and turned it into a 15-yard pass to Elijah Bell, getting the Aggies to the Tigers' 3-yard line. After a short 2-yard gain, Raynard came up big again and pushed himself forward across the goal line with just 38 seconds left to secure his team's second HBCU national championship in three years. N.C. A&T won, 21-14.
In addition to the championship, the Aggies finished their season with a perfect 12-0 record, becoming the first team in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) history to finish the season undefeated.
Individually, Raynard moves up to a 26-0 record as a starter for N.C. A&T.
"I told our staff before the season started, 'We have chance to have our best football team.' And we still have a chance," N.C. A&T coach Rod Broadway said ahead of the bowl game, via NCAA.com. "All we need to do is win one more, and this will be the best team I've had in 15 years as a head coach. I can't say enough about these guys."
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