Gino Addison’s 214 Yards Power North Carolina Central Past Delaware State 31-12 in the MEAC Opener

A freshman takes the game over

Games tilt on a player sometimes, and this one tilted early and stayed tilted. Addison’s 214 yards were not empty volume in a shootout — they were 79 percent of everything North Carolina Central produced on the ground, stacked a drive at a time until Delaware State’s defense had no answers left. He averaged 6.9 yards a carry against a team that came in with the better record and the home field, in his conference debut, as a freshman. It was his second straight 100-yard game, and both his yardage and touchdown totals set career highs — a low bar for a freshman in October, but the manner of it was not low at all.

Delaware State actually struck first, and fast — per Delaware Online’s account of the opening sequence: 71 seconds in, after the Hornets intercepted the game’s second snap and then fumbled the return back into their own hands, Kyree Benton took an end-around 26 yards for a 6-0 lead. It was the last time the home crowd had anything to hold onto.

Zion Dobson answered with a 5-yard touchdown run to put NCCU up 7-6 late in the first quarter, and Riley Daniels added a 25-yard field goal for 10-6 before the half. Then came the drive that defined the night: to open the third quarter, the Eagles took the kickoff and marched 75 yards in 16 plays, burning more than eight minutes of clock, and Addison finished it from six yards out. His second score, a 16-yarder early in the fourth, made it 24-6, and quarterback Cobey Thompkins found Luke Bracey for a 21-yard touchdown with 2:06 left to close the Eagles’ scoring. Delaware State’s Marqui Adams ran in a 10-yard touchdown on the game’s final play, per the MEAC’s weekend roundup, for the 31-12 final.

The numbers say it was not close

Score aside, this was a strangling — and the official accounts agree on every line of it: North Carolina Central Athletics, HBCU Gameday and Sports Illustrated all recorded the same game. North Carolina Central ran 71 offensive plays to Delaware State’s 46. The Eagles piled up 427 yards — their second straight 400-yard game — against 257 for the Hornets. First downs went 28-14. Possession went 37:18 to the visitors. Delaware State converted one third down in eight tries.

Thompkins was nearly perfect in support — HBCU Gameday’s line: 15 of 18 for 155 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. Dobson added 57 rushing yards and his touchdown on 11 carries. And the defense matched the offense’s control — freshman defensive back Amari Sifford intercepted two passes, giving him three on the season, on a night the Eagles forced two turnovers and held the Hornets to 117 rushing yards. Delaware State cycled through three quarterbacks; Jaylin Terzado’s 65 receiving yards were its lone bright line.

“Return that lick”

There was a debt on this game, and everyone in the MEAC knew it. Last season, Delaware State went into Durham and beat North Carolina Central 35-26 at the Eagles’ homecoming. At MEAC Media Day this summer, Oliver — an NCCU man coaching against his rivals — said plainly what he intended, as Sports Illustrated reported: “Coming back to Dover to return that lick.”

Friday night was the collection. The win moved Oliver to 6-1 against Delaware State in his career and put him two wins shy of 50 overall. NCCU has now won 11 of the last 13 meetings between the schools. A 2-5 record, it turns out, said very little about where this team actually was: the Eagles had lost four straight, but they had also just posted consecutive 400-yard offensive games, and their ground game has now topped 200 yards in back-to-back weeks — three times this season.

The conference race takes in the result exactly as it landed: NCCU opens 1-0 in the MEAC with a road win over a team that started the night ahead of it, and Delaware State falls to 4-4 (0-1) with its first home loss of the season. Per NCCU Athletics, next for the Eagles: Howard at home on Saturday, Oct. 31, at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium (2 p.m. ET, ESPN+). If Addison’s October is a preview rather than a peak, that game just got considerably more interesting.

By the Numbers

214 — Addison’s rushing yards, on 31 carries (6.9 per attempt), with two touchdowns

272 — NCCU team rushing yards on 52 attempts; Addison accounted for 79 percent

427-257 — total offense, NCCU over Delaware State

28-14 — first downs

37:18 — Eagles’ time of possession

1-of-8 — Delaware State on third down

15-of-18 — Cobey Thompkins passing, for 155 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions

2 — interceptions by freshman Amari Sifford

31 — unanswered points by NCCU after trailing 6-0

2,503 — attendance at Alumni Stadium