Hampton beats Alabama A&M in Chicago Football Classic

David Legree and his Hampton teammates came a long way to capture Saturday's 14th annual Chicago Football Classic, so the quarterback wasn't going to part with the winning trophy anytime soon. "I'm not letting it go," said Legree as he cradled the gold football-shaped trophy in a jubilant locker room after the Pirates rallied for a 21-20 victory over Alabama A&M in front of 35,653 at Soldier Field^[2].

"If I was a junior or sophomore somebody else would have it, but seeing as it's my senior year, I'm going to be sleeping on the plane with it, not letting it go. I might take a shower with it and see how it holds up but I'm not letting it go." Trailing 17-0 at halftime, Hampton^[3] located in Virginia mounted a thrilling comeback that came down to the game's final play. Ian Davidson blocked a 34-yard field-goal attempt by Bulldogs kicker Chance Wilson to secure the win.

After a slow start, Legree finished 9-for-20 with a touchdown strike to Javaris Brown. He also ran for 104 yards and an 8-yard score.



Teammate Antwon Chisholm had 141 yards on 25 carries and scored the winning touchdown when he scampered 4 yards to the end zone with 9:53 remaining in the fourth.

"We could have easily come out on the bottom of this," Legree said. "We did a lot of good things in the second half and we did a lot of bad things in the first half. If we can put (together) what we did in the second half for 48 minutes, the sky's the limit for this team."

Alabama A&M dominated the first half, getting touchdown runs from quarterback Deaunte Mason and tailback Kaderius Lacey (116 yards on 29 carries). Wilson had two field goals, but his attempt as the clock ticked down was smothered by Davidson.

ckuc@tribune.com^[4]

Twitter @ChrisKuc