Story By: Andrew Lang
Photos By: Hal Jack
College Park, MD–
Before the season started, Terps Head Coach Mike Locksley said that this team would have to show some resilience late in games if they wanted to be competitive, tonight they showed the tale of two halves of football and came back strong after halftime to knockoff Charlotte, 38-20.
“These guys understand,” Locksley said. “We did what we needed to do to win the game, but I think we all know that we didn’t play up to our standard.”
The 49ers (1-1) scored two touchdowns in quick succession early in the first quarter — the second of which came when Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa threw a pick-6 on his team’s first offensive play. The Terrapins (2-0) mostly shut Charlotte down after that, however, and slowly took control of the game.
If the Terps are going to have a chance when they get to their conference schedule they are going to need some solid consistent offense and establish a running game just as they did tonight with Roman Hemby.
Hemby had a breakout game in the second half and ran for 153 yards in that period totaling 162 for the game.
“I think that’s when we need to be together the most. I feel like we were brought together by the adversity that we faced,” Hemby said. “Those are the things that help us to build chemistry.”
Next up for the Terps is a Friday night lights game against Virginia, who has had some struggles of their own to start the season. Can the Terps bounce back and have a better first half? One can only hope and they go to 3-0 before hitting the road.
