North Carolina Central held off a fourth-quarter rally and intercepted a fourth-down pass in the end zone as time expired to beat North Carolina A&T 30-22 in the Aggie-Eagle Classic on Saturday at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium in Durham, a game delayed by rain that stretched the afternoon to more than five hours. NCCU improved to 2-1 to start the year, while NC A&T fell to 0-3.

Plez Lawrence and NC Central’s Ground Game Take Control

Plez Lawrence carried the Eagles’ offense all afternoon, rushing 22 times for 210 yards and three touchdowns, including a 73-yard score in the second quarter that put NCCU up 23-7. Quarterback Nelson Layne opened the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Mehki Wall and finished 13 of 19 for 146 yards without an interception. Two lost fumbles by NC A&T set up 10 of NC Central’s points, and the Eagles led 23-14 at halftime before Lawrence’s third rushing touchdown, a one-yard plunge, made it 30-14 early in the third quarter.

NC A&T Rallies Behind Elijah Kennedy but Comes Up Just Short

Kevin White threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns for the Aggies, connecting with Elijah Kennedy twice, on a 51-yard strike and a 2-yard score, as Kennedy finished with seven catches for 112 yards. Anthony Rucker’s 6-yard touchdown catch with 4:20 left, followed by a successful two-point conversion pass to Mark Tillman, pulled North Carolina A&T within 30-22.

The Aggies got the ball back at their own 35 with 2:01 remaining and drove into the red zone, with Rory Jones-Amen-Hetep catching passes of 21 and 6 yards to move the ball to the NC Central 3-yard line. A completion to Rucker put the ball at the 1, but an offensive pass interference penalty on Jones-Amen-Hetep pushed North Carolina A&T back to the 13. On the final play of the game, White’s pass into the end zone was intercepted by Jakarri Martin II to seal the win for NC Central.

What the Coaches Said

The delay was long enough that both sides had to find ways to stay ready. Gibbs said he leaned on experience, telling his players about a roughly four-hour weather delay North Carolina A&T played through against Kent State in 2016, and credited assistant coach Harber with keeping the group loose until the game resumed. “We’ve been through that a number of times,” Gibbs said. “We just kept talking to them, making sure Coach Harber did a good job of keeping those guys loose, and they came out ready to play, and they fought their way back.” On the NC Central side, players said they used the delay to stay hydrated and focused rather than let the long layoff cool them off.

“I think we had a good play called, the last play, just the ball placement, a little bit more outside and give Carlock a chance to go up and use his length to make the play,” A&T coach Shawn Gibbs said of the final snap. “Rory made a heck of a play, got the ball down to the two. I don’t necessarily agree with the pass interference call, but I look at it on film. That’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.” Gibbs also credited Elijah Kennedy’s effort: “EK just fought and fought their butts off for four quarters.”

NCCU coach Trei Oliver acknowledged his team’s execution slipped after the rain delay. “I didn’t think we executed well late in the fourth quarter, but we won the game, and that’s the bottom line,” Oliver said. “Third down killed us from both sides of the ball. Defense couldn’t get off the field on third, and offense couldn’t sustain the drive on third. But that quarterback is elusive. We had him a bunch of times bottled up in the backfield. We made a play when we had to, and we won the game.”

A&T travels to Campbell next Saturday for its first conference test of the season, while NCCU will play OVC member Gardner-Webb on the road in Week 3. Track both teams and every other HBCU program the rest of the way on our 2026 football season dashboard.