SAVANNAH, Ga. - Savannah State University football coach Steve Davenport on Thursday said he is sticking with Antonio Bostick as the Tigers' starting quarterback when SSU plays Morgan State in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at 7 p.m. Saturday at T.A. Wright Stadium.
 
SSU (0-4, 0-2) is attempting to snap an 11-game losing streak, the longest in the Football Championship Subdivision. The Tigers' last victory was Sept. 24, 2011, when they beat North Carolina Central, 33-30.
 
Morgan State (2-2, 1-0) is 6-0 in the series with SSU. The game will be radio broadcast on WHCJ 90.3 FM. It will be “Think Pink” night to promote breast cancer awareness.
 
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Davenport said he re-opened the quarterback job and was giving Victorian Hardison a closer look. Bostick struggled in SSU's 56-9 loss to Howard University last Saturday in Washington, D.C. The 6-foot-1, 202-pound junior from Greensboro, Fla., led the Tigers to only two first downs in their first six drives. SSU trailed, 28-0, when Davenport replaced Bostick with Hardison.
 
Hardison, a 6-foot, 180-pound sophomore from Lovejoy, engineered a 14-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 33-yard field goal to end the first half.
 
In the third quarter, Hardison led SSU on a four-play, 65-yard touchdown drive. He threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Simon Heyward. Hardison finished 12-of-24 passing for 137 yards and a touchdown.
 
“Vic played well in the second half, showed some good poise, showed some positives,” Davenport said. “We moved the ball around pretty good in the second half, a lot better than in the first.
 
“Antonio struggled with his reads. It was more the intricacies of quarterback that he struggled with on Saturday, and some people that aren't very knowledgeable about the game couldn't see it.”
 
Bostick impressed Davenport enough during practices this week to keep his job against
Morgan State.
 
“They've both done some positives this week,” Davenport said.
 
Bostick is 33-of-89 passing (37.1 percent) for 451 yards and two touchdowns with four interceptions. He has run 36 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns. Bostick tied an SSU record with 332 yards passing against North Carolina Central.
 
Hardison is 12-of-26 passing (46.2 percent) for 137 yards and a touchdown without an interception. He has run 16 times for 30 yards without a touchdown.
 
Morgan State outlook
This will be Morgan State's fourth consecutive road game. The Bears are coming off a 21-18 victory over North Carolina A&T last Saturday. Morgan State lost to Football Bowl Subdivision teams Buffalo and Akron. The Bears beat Sacred Heart, 30-27, in a quadruple-overtime game in their season opener. It was the longest game in Morgan State's history.
 
“They're a throwback (team),” Davenport said of Morgan State. “They're a downhill, two-back, tight end kind of group. They're going to be physical. Obviously, that is not our strength but we've got to come out here and fight like there's no tomorrow on Saturday, and that's what we intend to do.”
 
Morgan State running back Travis Davidson, a 6-foot, 180-pound senior from Redford, Mich., has a team-high 389 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 86 carries.
 
Quarterback Robert Council, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound redshirt sophomore from Camden, S.C.,  is 30-of-57 passing for 455 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He is second on the team in rushing with 35 carries for 131 yards without a touchdown.
 
Receiver Andrew King, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound sophomore from Columbia, Md., has 10 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns. He caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Council in the final seconds to beat North Carolina A&T.
 
Tight end Kristian Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior from Philadelphia, has four catches for 91 yards. He made all four catches, including one for a 34-yard touchdown, against North Carolina A&T.
 
“Their tights ends are tremendous,” Davenport said. “They catch the ball really well. Their quarterback's got a lot of poise. And I think their offensive line works as a group really well. From an offensive perspective, they're MEAC college football players, very good ones.”
 
Defensively, Morgan State has intercepted seven passes and is tied for 12^th in the FCS. Defensive back Joe Rankin, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior from Germantown, Md., has intercepted three passes. He is tied for second in the nation and leads the MEAC.
 
Linebacker Elandon Roberts, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound freshman from Port Arthur, Texas, has 39 tackles, including six for losses. He made a season-high 14 tackles against North Carolina A&T and was named MEAC Rookie of the Week.
 
“Defensively, they run to the football very well,” Davenport said. “And their defensive front seven is comparable to what we saw against Howard. I think Howard may have a step on them but they play good as well. We'll try to spread them out and see what we can do.”
On special teams, Morgan State's Chris Flowers, a 5-foot-10, 150-pound junior from Haines City, Fla., is fourth in the nation in kickoff return average with 33.6 yards per game.
 
McCarthy enjoying SSU
Preston McCarthy kicked the first field goal of his Savannah State University career last Saturday against Howard University. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound redshirt sophomore from Decatur made a 33-yard field goal. It was SSU's first field-goal attempt this season.
 
“I was just being patient, waiting for my opportunity,” said McCarthy, a graduate of Southwest Dekalb High School. “Whenever Coach (Davenport) puts me in, I'll be ready.”
 
McCarthy was a kicker for three years at Southwest Dekalb. He handled kickoffs as a sophomore, and added field goals and extra-point attempts to his duties as a junior and senior.
 
McCarthy accepted an athletic scholarship from Saint Paul's College, a private, historically black college in Lawrenceville, Va. The college's enrollment is 600 students and its interim president is Dr. Claude Flythe, formerly SSU's Vice President for Administration. Flythe was named interim president at Saint Paul's College on June 30, 2012.
 
McCarthy did not kick a game-winning field goal in high school but he did at Saint Paul's College.
 
“I had a 44-yard game-winner in overtime,” he said, smiling. “We were playing Lincoln University.”
 
Saint Paul's College was an NCAA Division II school that competed in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The college's board of trustees voted to discontinue the athletics program effective July 1, 2011.
 
“They told me in the summertime, after my freshman year, so I had to scramble to find something new,” McCarthy said. “Luckily, Coach Dav called and offered me. He knew my high school coach, so that's how I got the connection. I was just blessed to have connections.”
 
McCarthy transferred to SSU, where he redshirted last season. He's a junior in the classroom and a sophomore in terms of athletic eligibility.
 
SSU is 3-of-5 on extra-point attempts this season, all of them kicked by McCarthy.
“Preston is tremendous,” Davenport said. “We redshirted him last year because we, obviously, had Derek (Williams).”
 
McCarthy said he is glad that he redshirted.
 
“I learned a lot from Derek,” he said of Williams, who graduated and returned to his home in Toronto, Canada. “He taught me a lot of the stuff I know now. I can honestly say he made me a better player, a better kicker. I am grateful for everything that he taught me.”
 
Davenport said he expects to call on McCarthy again this season.
“We feel comfortable with him inside of 45 yards that he'll get the job done,” Davenport said. “I didn't have a hesitation Saturday to put him out there. I knew he'd get the job done. We feel like he's got a bright future here.”
 
A biology major, McCarthy is considering a career in physical therapy. He said he does not miss the colder weather in Lawrenceville, Va., and has adjusted to life at SSU.
 
“I've enjoyed SSU,” he said. “It's been quite a different experience from my first school. It's a lot more challenging and complex, but I guess to get where you want to go you've just got to take it. (SSU) is academically more challenging. And my last school was smaller. This school is a lot bigger so it took a while to get accustomed to the bigger environment and all of that kind of stuff.”