[updated September 26,2020]
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The longest game in Bethune-Cookman football history was probably also the wackiest.
Oh sure, there was the 2010 blackout game against North Carolina A&T that kept fans at Municipal Stadium well past midnight. Then there was the Hampton game in 2011 that was delayed by a thunderstorm, and ultimately decided by instant replay overturning a called Hampton touchdown on the final play of the game.
Bethune-Cookman fans are used to the unusual, and it all started September 26, 1998, when the Wildcats hosted Virginia State out of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
When B-CU took a 26-3 third quarter lead, it looked like it would be an early night. However, things were just getting started.
Capitalizing on five Wildcat fumbles, Virginia State scored 30 unanswered points to take a 33-26 lead. Bethune-Cookman rallied to tie the game on a one-yard Johnny Hart with three minutes remaining, and moments later had a chance to win the game on the final play, but Alton Bolden's field goal was blocked and forced overtime.
In overtime, Virginia State scored three times, and Bethune-Cookman answered each score to extend the game.
When B-CU scored in the sixth overtime, the game would officially become the longest in NCAA history, surpassing three other games – including a 59-58 Florida A&M win over Hampton in the 1996 Circle City Classic.
In the seventh overtime, Bethune-Cookman blocked a field goal, and the late Damion Cook scooped it up and lumbered the other way for the apparent game-winning score. Cook finished his run with a spectacular dive, but there was one problem…it was the five-yard line, not the goal line.
Thus began the eighth overtime.
Finally, in the eighth overtime period, and nearly five hours after kickoff, Pa'Tell Troutman, who had been benched since the third quarter, returned and ended the night with a 26-yard touchdown for a 63-57 Wildcats victory. Troutman finished the night with three touchdowns, and the Wildcats were 3-0 for the first time since 1978.Â
The eight overtime record is an NCAA record that still stands today. Another thing that stood: Cook's nickname of "Big Dive."
-www.BCUathletics.com-