Howard’s Carr Steals the Spotlight, 26-21 : College football: Unheralded quarterback completes 13 of 23 passes for 198 yards, rushes for 57 in victory over Southern.

All that Howard quarterback Donald Carr wanted to do was show that he could keep up with his counterpart in Sunday’s second annual Los Angeles Football Classic at the Coliseum.

While Southern’s Nathaniel Harrison was accounting for three touchdowns and 303 yards in offense, Carr proved to be the difference in Howard’s 26-21 victory before 46,835.

Carr, not known for his passing, completed 13 of 23 passes for 198 yards and rushed for 57 more in 16 carries.

“A lot of people underestimated me and our offense in general,” Carr said, who returned twice in the game after leaving because of injuries. “(Howard Coach Steve Wilson) kept telling me all week that I had to match (Harrison) play for play.”

Which is exactly what Carr did, as he rallied the Bison from a 14-13 halftime deficit, with two third quarter touchdowns, including an 11-yard run himself.

“The key to the game was how we took control in the third quarter,” Wilson said. “Carr made the plays we needed and did a great job directing our team despite taking a great deal of physical abuse from Southern’s defense.”

Howard took an early 7-0 lead on a one-yard blast by Varick Bayina. However, Southern tied the score early in the second quarter on a 22-yard pass from Harrison to Barry Kimbrough.

After Howard had its extra point attempt blocked following a two-yard run by J.J. Carpenter, Southern took the lead late in the first half on a 63-yard pass play from Harrison to Brian Thomas.

Harrison had a roller coaster first half despite passing for two touchdowns. He was sacked four times, with three being credited to Gary Willingham.

In the second half, the Bison defense continued to give Southern’s offense problems, sacking Harrison four more times.

“We had breakdowns in our protection,” Harrison said. “At one point we picked up everything and then the next time we couldn’t.”

Southern Coach Gerald Kimble agreed.

“We knew that they would come with stunts but we just couldn’t stop it,” Kimble said. “They also presented some things we hadn’t seen before.”

After Carr’s scoring run and Carpenter’s second touchdown, Howard led 26-14, before Harrison rallied the Jaguars back.

With 7:24 left in the game, Harrison connected with Larry Benton on a six-yard corner pattern to bring Southern within 26-21.

The Jaguars had a chance to win with less than two minutes left, but Howard cornerback Walter Price intercepted a Harrison pass at the Bison four-yard line to end the game.

“It was rather obvious that they had a tremendous athlete playing quarterback for them,” said Wilson, who played in the NFL for 10 seasons and is the son of former NFL great Tommy Wilson. “He caused a great deal of problems for us but our defense made the big plays when we had to.”

Joining Willingham and Price in making big plays for the Bison “Buffalo Soldier” defense was linebacker Anthony Hooper, who had two sacks, and back Keith Hancock, who had five unassisted tackles, including a big fourth-quarter sack.

On offense, Howard was able to move the ball on the ground at key points in the game, with fullback Ryan Heathcock leading the way with 65 yards in 15 carries. His efforts complimented Carr’s rollout ability, which kept Southern off balance the entire game.

“We had to make them come up and respect me as a runner and that opened things up for us passing,” Carr said.