Canton, OH- The 2023 season did not open the way Morehouse intended for it to as the Maroon Tigers dropped a disappointing 45-13 against Virginia Union in the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic on Sunday afternoon at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. 

For the Maroon Tigers (0-1, 0-0 SIAC), the primary culprit in the loss was their issues with penalties and mental errors. Morehouse committed six penalties and when it came to mental errors, the athletes were making simple mistakes on plays they have practiced every day.

"There's a lot of work to be done, said head coach Gerard Wilcher."

The first quarter of the game no one would score for the first five minutes until a touch by Jada Byers would put the Panthers on the board. These would be the only points the Panthers would get during the first quarter. The start of the second quarter, VU would score again at the 6:46 mark making the score, 14-0 and they would end the first half with the lead.

Morehouse had a difficult time scoring during the first half of the game but coming back from half time everything would change as a blocked punt against VU would allow Morehouse to get a recovery and a touchdown by Delvin Olawumi would lead Morehouse to getting their first touchdown of the game and a kick by Danny Elrod would make the score, 14-7. VU would continue to keep their lead by scoring again within the last minute of the game ending the third quarter, 21-7.

The Panthers would come into the fourth quarter hungry for the win as they would score just a minute into the game, 28-7. They would score back to back times creating a 35 point lead over the Maroon Tigers. At the 6:03 mark, Brogan Korta would get a 31 yard pass from Jaylon West which would get Morehouse a touchdown, 42-13. The Panthers would score one more time before the fourth quarter ended and would finish the game with a win, 45-13.

" With our game against Howard next Saturday, we plan to watch film and make proper corrections. We are also going to make sure we are putting in the right people in the right position to be successful. Playing against VU showed us a lot and we plan to revisit our personnel and making sure we have the right people in the game, said head coach Gerard Wilcher."

Morehouse will look to regroup as we are on the road to Washington, DC to take on Howard University on Sept. 9 at 7pm.