CSU gives Circle City Classic good show. OCTOBER 8, 2006 (wcsu) - INDIANAPOLIS - Central State University football coach Al West promised that the organizers of Saturday's Circle City Classic at the RCA Dome would not be disappointed in his team.

They shouldn't have been, because he wasn't.

Yes, the Marauders dropped a 42-12 decision to Hampton (Va.). But as West noted, this was a quality opponent.

Hampton (6-0) is considered the best football team among the nation's historically black universities. The Pirates also are ranked No. 12 in the latest NCAA Division I-AA poll.

Also, Saturday's victory extended Hampton's winning streak in regular-season games to 23. And truth be told, if not for an interception return for a touchdown on the first series and a blocked punt later in the first quarter, the Pirates might not have been as comfortable at the half.

The score was 21-6. It could have been 7-6.

"Let's make it clear," West said after the game. "The score is not indicative of how that game was played. Let's also make it clear that Hampton is an outstanding program."

Derrick Moss led the Marauders with 111 yards on 23 carries. He scored on a 5-yard run in the second half and finished as the game's top rusher.

CSU fell to 0-3, no moral victories accepted.

Hampton coach Joe Taylor accepted only the first part of West's assessment. The latter, well, he said that is a work in progress, particularly with a red-zone fumble and 13 penalties for 99 yards.

Central State was on the march with the game's first drive when Calvin Bannister intercepted a pass and returned it 61 yards for a touchdown. Another first-quarter series was just as disastrous for the Marauders.

After the drive stalled, Charles Robinson blocked the punt. He should have recovered it for a touchdown, but he couldn't get the handle at the 7-yard line. Two plays later, Alonzo Coleman, Hampton's all-time leading rusher, scored from the 3.

"Getting off to a slow start like that ... you can't do that against a well-coached team," West said.

Central State scored late in the second quarter to make it 14-6, but Hampton responded with its best drive of the game: 71 yards on six plays, capped by Marquay McDaniel's 14-yard TD catch.

McDaniel proved to be the offensive star of the game, snaring two more touchdown receptions in the second half for the first three-TD game of his college career.
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