Gray's run gives Alabama State 26-20 overtime victory

Sep 2, 2018, 03:10 am

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Ezra Gray's 30-yard run in overtime lifted Alabama State to a 26-20 victory over Division-II Tuskegee on Saturday night in a season opener.

Christian Clark blocked Tuskegee's 43-yard field goal attempt in OT. Gray, after the Hornets were penalized 5 yards, scored on the next play.

The victory came in Donald Hill-Eley's first game as the team's official head coach. After the Hornets went 0-5 to start last season, Hill-Eley was named interim coach for the final six games in which Alabama State went 5-1.

Darryl Pearson Jr. passed for 164 yards and a 68-yard touchdown to Tyrek Allen. Pearson tied the game with 5:09 left in regulation with a 9-yard scramble. Hunter Hanson kicked a pair of field goals.

Hornets Darron Johnson and Dennis Roberts IV both had first-half interceptions, Johnson's setting up a field goal and Roberts' stopping a Tuskegee drive in the red zone.