Alabama A&,M 24, Tennessee St. 7

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	26	14
Total Yards	409	191
Passing	232	178
Rushing	177	13
Penalties	5-45	8-89
3rd Down Conversions	9-17	4-14
4th Down Conversions	1-1	0-2
Turnovers	2	2
Possession	36:25	23:35

Air/Ground Leaders
Alabama A&M Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Atkins 19/28 232 3 1 Mason 0/2 0 0 0	Tennessee State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Perry 10/30 136 0 2 Grooms 4/8 42 0 0
Alabama A&M Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Banks 25 121 0 27 Atkins 11 28 0 22	Tennessee State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Thomas 3 17 0 7 Brown 10 12 0 8
Alabama A&M Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Banks 3 47 0 24 Mitchell 3 46 0 22	Tennessee State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Broadway 3 46 0 22 Wilkens 2 40 0 21

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				AAMU	TNST
	TD	10:19	Thomas Harris 11 Yd Pass From Kevin Atkins (Jeremy Licea Kick)	7	0
	TD	05:19	Todd Leichtfuss 9 Yd Pass From Kevin Atkins (Jeremy Licea Kick)	14	0
	TD	01:46	Eugene Clifford 78 Yd Fumble Return (John Lopez Kick)	14	7
SECOND QUARTER				AAMU	TNST
	TD	02:20	Rashad Johnson 13 Yd Pass From Kevin Atkins (Jeremy Licea Kick)	21	7
	FG	00:00	Jeremy Licea 30 Yd	24	7

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Kevin Atkins passed for 232 yards and three touchdowns to lead Alabama A&M to a 24-7 win over Tennessee State on Saturday in the 11th John Merritt Classic.

Atkins completed passes to seven different receivers. Thomas Harris, Rashad Johnson and Todd Leichtfuss each caught a touchdown pass. All the scoring happened in the first half.

Alabama A&M rolled up 409 yards in total offense while Tennessee State managed only 14 first downs and 191 total yards of offense. Tennessee State was held to 13 yards rushing on 22 attempts and quarterback Jeremy Perry was intercepted twice.

Tennessee State's only touchdown came on a 78-yard fumble return by Eugene Clifford.

The game, which drew a crowd of more than 23,000, honors the former Tennessee State coach. Merritt won four national HBCU championships between 1963 and 1983.