8/10/2019 Black College Sports Page: Vol 21, No 16

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FOR THE W EEK OF N OVEMBER 18 - 24, 2014

© AZEEZ Communications, Inc. Vol. XXI, No. 16

SIAC, CIAA CHAMPS CROWNED, MOVEON TO PLAYOFFS; MEAC UP FOR GRABS

TIM O ' NEAL: FormerJackson State and SWACstandout advances to FinalStage of Web.com TourQualifying Tournamentwith nal round 64.

BCSP photo

MOVINGON UP

NOVEMBER 13Hampton 40, Bethune-Cookman 35

NOVEMBER 15CIAA CHAMPIONSHIPVirginia State 21, Winston-Salem State 17SIAC CHAMPIONSHIPTuskegee 47, Albany State 41MEAC Howard 28, C. Connecticut State 25Florida A&M 41, Delaware State 7

Morgan State 24, South Carolina State 21North Carolina A&T 34, Savannah State 0

SCORES

N. Carolina Central 19, Norfolk State 14SWAC Alabama State 37, Grambling State 23 Alcorn State 56, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 6Jackson State 15, Texas Southern 10Prairie View A&M 38, Alabama A&M 35Southern 44, Miss. Valley State 13INDEPENDENTSGlenville State 30, W. Virginia State 7Langston 27, Bacone 14Missouri S&T 14, Lincoln (Mo.) 9

Seton HIll 56, Cheyney 18SW Assemblies 48,Texas College 0

LUT WILLIAMSBCSP Editor Perhaps the most interesting, highly com-petitive and topsy-turvy MEAC race in recentmemory will come down to games in this nalweekend of the regular season.

Four season-ending games this weekend,one in particular, will determine whether theMEAC has one champion this year or severalco-champs.

The key game will be in Durham, N. C. Sat-urday (2 p.m.) where league front-runner NorthCarolina A&T (9-2) with a 6-1 MEAC recordcan claim the outright title with a win over I-40rival North Carolina Central (6-5), one of fourteams tied for second place in the conferencewith 5-2 records.

A win would also give the Aggies and vet-eran fourth-year head coach Rod Broadway theleague 's automatic berth into the national Foot-ball Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. An NCCU win would give rst-year headcoach Jerry Mack , the third youngest Div. Icoach in the nation, and his Eagles a share of thetitle with A&T but would also bring the othersecond-place teams – South Carolina State

(7-4, 5-2), Bethune-Cookman (8-3, 5-2) andMorgan State (6-5, 5-2) – into the league titleand FCS automatic bid picture. Morgan State ends its season Saturday host-ing Delaware State at 1 p.m. South CarolinaState closes at home vs Norfolk State at 1:30p.m. and Bethune Cookman faces rival FloridaA&M in Orlando at 2 p.m. in the Florida Clas-

sic.

An NCCU win could open the door to therebeing as many as ve co-champions and throwthe automatic bid determination into a variety oftie-breaking scenarios.

Mack and his Eagles stayed in the hunt byvirtue of a C. J. Moore blocked punt that he re-covered in the end zone in the last half of thefourth quarter in a 19-14 win over Norfolk Statelast week.

Morgan State, under rst-year coach LeeHull , got an 8-yard TD run from QB MosesSkillon with less than a minute left to knock offthen league front-runner S. C. State, 24-21 Sat-urday. SCSU entered the game tied with A&Tand B-CU at 5-1 for the league lead but withwins over both. The topsy turvy week started Thursday withHampton under rst-year head coach ConnellMaynor upsetting Bethune-Cookman 40-35behind a stiff defense and ve TD passes fromfreshman QB Jerrell Antoine . But everything really comes down to theEagles/Aggies clash in Durham. The Eagles will have their hands full con-taining a team that leads the conference in scor-ing and scoring defense and has a bevy of play-makers. The Aggies lead the conference in scoringdefense (13.1 points per game) and are comingoff perhaps its best two defensive performances

of the season, shutting out Morgan State 45-0two weeks ago and Savannah State 34-0 Satur-day.

Linebacker D'Vonte Grant with 78 andsafety Landis Shoffner with 76 lead the Aggiesin tackles. Defensive linemen Marquis Rag-land and Daniel Pinnix have 7 and 6.5 sacks re-spectively to lead the pass rushers. Donald Mat-tocks leads the league with seven picks whileback eld mate Tony McRae is tied for second

with ve. The Aggies score a league-best 34.0 pointsper game led by QB Kwashon Quick who hasreturned to form after missing a couple of gamesbecause of injuries in the middle of the season.In his three games back, he has thrown for 617yards with eight TDs and just two intercep-tions.

He had a shaky start last week against Sa-vannah State throwing two picks and giving upa fumble in the rst quarter. He settled down andcompleted 9 of 18 passes for 135 yards and oneTD, by far his worst outing since his return. Dynamic sophomore running back TarikCohen picked up the slack last week runningfor 115 yards on 13 carries and three second-halftouchdowns. He now has 1,137 yards, his sec-ond 1,000-yard season, and 13 TDs to lead theAggies ground attack. Desmond Lawrence (39rec., 2 TDs) and Denzel Keyes (24 rec., 6 TDs)are the top receivers. A&T's only conference loss was 13-0 to SCState on Oct. 4 in Atlanta with freshman HassanKlugh under center. NC Central enters the game not sure wheth-er Malcolm Bell or Quinn Billerman will beat quarterback. Billerman (50-84-1, 463 yards,1 TD), who started the rst three games of theseason before giving way to Bell (161-263-5, 14TDs), started for an injured Bell in last week'sgame and completed 12 of 22 passes for 151yards without an interception. Mack said on Tuesday's MEAC teleconfer-ence that he's not sure if Bell will be ready toplay on Saturday.

Andre Clark has run for 675 yards and aleague-best 14 rushing TDs to lead the Eagles'ground attack. Adrian Wilkins (49 rec., 3 TDs),also a dangerous return man, and Quentin At-

MEAC title down to fnal weekG A M E S T H I S W E E K

™

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22MEACHoward vs. Hampton in Washington, DC 1pMorgan State vs. Delaware State in Baltimore, MD 1pBrigham Young vs. Savannah State in Provo, UT 1pS. Carolina State vs. Norfolk State in Orangeburg, SC 1:30pN. Carolina Central vs. N. Carolina A&T in Durham, NC 2p34th Florida Classic- ESPN Cl. - ESPNU - HSRNBethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M in Orlando, FL 2pSWAC 1p Alcorn State vs. Jackson State in Lorman, MS 2p Arkansas.-Pine Bluff vs. Alabama A&M in Pine Bluff, AR 2:30p91st Turkey Day Classic Alabama State vs. Stillman in Montgomery, AL 1pINDEPENDENTSMurray State vs. Tennessee State in Murray, KY 2pPLAYOFF GAMES - NCAA DIV. II FIRST ROUNDSUPER REGION IVirginia State vs. LIU-Post in Ettrick, VA 12nSUPER REGION IITuskegee vs. West Georgia in Tuskegee, AL 12n

kinson (46 rec., 5 TDs) are the top pass catch-ers. Moore leads the team in tackles (86, 45 so-los) while defensive end Felix Small leads theteam with seven sacks. Safety Michael Jones

is tied with McRae of A&T with ve intercep -tions. Expect a low scoring game between SCState and Norfolk State as match up pits teamsat the top of defensive stats in the conference.NSU is second in total (250.3 ypg.), scoring(16.5 ppg.) and rushing (109.3 ypg.) defensewhile SCSU is third in scoring (20.9 ppg.) and

fth in total defense (337.3). SC State puts up 26.3 points per game,fourth in the conference while Norfolk State islast in scoring at 10.9 ppg. With the wins overB-CU and A&T, SC State would get seriousconsideration for an at-large FCS bid with awin. DelState (2-9, 2-5) will be trying to end afour-game slide in its battle at Morgan State.The Bears meanwhile are trying to nish on ahigh note. Their last-minute win over SC Statecame a week after a 45-0 shutout at the hands ofA&T. Bethune-Cookman, who had been rankedin the FCS Top 25 most of the season, is theother team most likely to warrant at-large FCSplayoff consideration with a win.

SWAC The only matter left to be determined in theSWAC is who will face East Division winnerAlcorn State (9-2, 7-1 E) in the Dec. 13 Cham-pionship Game in Houston. And that won 't bedetermined until next Saturday, Nov. 29 whenSouthern (8-3, 7-1) and Grambling State (7-4, 7-1) meet in the Bayou Cl assic in the NewOrleans Super Dome for t he West title. Both Southern and Grambling are off thisweek. Alcorn closes out the regular season Satur-day hosting Jackson State (4-7, 2-6).

DIV ALLNORTH W L W L Virginia State 8 0 9 2SOUTH W-Salem State 7 1 9 2

CIAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME MVPs

VIRGINIA STATENiko Johnson , Fr., QBWINSTON-SALEM STATEPhillip Sim s, Sr., QB

CIAA CENTRAL I NTERCOLLEGIATE A THLETIC A SSOCIATION INDEPENDENTS

W LLangston 7 3Tennessee State 5 6Edward Waters 5 6W. Va. State 2 9Lincoln (Mo.) 2 9Concordia 1 9Va.-Lynchburg 0 8Cheyney 0 10Texas College 0 11

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKOFFENSENADEFENSENASPECIAL TEAMSNA

2 0 1 4 B L A C K C O L L E G E F O O T B A L L (Results, Standings and Weekly Honors)

SIAC S OUTHERN I NTERCOLLEGIATE

A THLETIC C ONFERENCE

CONF ALLEAST W L W L

Albany State 7 1 7 3WESTTuskegee 8 0 9 2

SIAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME MVPs

TUSKEGEEHoderick Lowe , So., RB

ALBANY STATEFrank Rivers , Sr., QB

SWAC S OUTHWESTERN

A THLETIC C ONFERENCE

DIV ALLEAST W L W L ^Alcorn State 7 1 9 2

Alabama State 5 4 6 5 Alabama A&M 3 5 4 7Jackson State 2 6 4 7Miss. Valley St. 1 8 2 9WEST Grambling State 7 1 7 4Southern 7 1 8 3Prairie View A&M 5 4 5 5Texas Southern 3 6 5 6

Ark. Pine Bluff 2 6 3 7^ Clinched Division title

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKOFFENSEMalcolm Cyrus, Sr., RB,ALABAMA STATE - 180

yards in 27 carries, 1 TD, 2 receptions for 60 yards inwin over Grambling.DEFENSEKourtney Berry, LB,ALABAMA STATE - 18 tackles,12 solos, 3.5 for loss, forced 2 fumbles, recovered onefor TD vs. Grambling.SPECIAL TEAMS Nick Carden, P, ALABAMA A&M - Punted fve timesfor 49.2 average with 69-yarder, one inside 20NEWCOMER Arron Baker , RB,ALCORN STATE - 8 carries, 55yards, 3 TDs in win over UAPB.

MID E ASTERN

A THLETIC C ONFERENCEMEAC CONF ALL W L W LNC A&T State 6 1 9 2SC State 5 2 7 4Bethune-Cookman 5 2 8 3Morgan State 5 2 6 5N. Carolina Central 5 2 6 5Norfolk State 4 3 4 7Delaware State 2 5 2 9Howard 2 5 4 7Hampton 2 5 3 8# Florida A&M 3 4 3 8# Savannah State 0 7 0 10# Not eligible for title

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKOFFENSEGreg McGhee, Sr., QB,HOWARD - Rushed for 119yards on 17 carries with three TDs and was 15 of 33for 216 passing yards and one TD in win over CCSU.Damien Fleming, Sr., QB,FLORIDA A&M- 23 of 30for 337 yards and 4 TDs, 7 rushed for 19 yards and oneTD in win over DelStateDEFENSEDVonte Grant, r-Sr., LB,NC A&T - 11 tackles, 9 sols,5 for lossses of 31 yards, 3 sacks, 1 int., 1 forcedfumble vs. SSU.ROOKIEJerrell Antoine, Fr., QB,HAMPTON - 21 of 34 for249 yards and 5 TDs, 10 carries, 24 yards vs. B-CU.SPECIALTEAMSC. J. Moore, Sr., DB,NCCU- Blocked punt recoveredfor game-winning TD vs. NSU.Antonio Hamilton, Jr.,SCSU- 98-yard KO return TD, his 3rd of season, vs. MSU.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RECAPS

CIAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAMEVirginia State 21, Winston-Salem State 17

DURHAM, NC – Freshman quarterbackNiko Johnson ran in from25 yards out with 2:59 left allowing North Division champion and BCSPNo. 8 Virginia State to knock off powerful South Division champ andBCSP No. 1 Winston-Salem State 21-17 in a hotly contested CIAAChampionship Game Saturday. The VSU win

Johnson, subbing for suspended starter Tarrian Ayres and start-ing his rst game, earned game MVP honorsrunning for 76 yards on 13 carries and com-pleting 12 of 19 passes for 125 yards as hedeftly led the Trojans (9-2) to the win. Thegame-winning score came right after WSSU(9-2) got is rst lead of the game on a 29-yardAlejandro Suarez eld goal with 5:48 to play.Johnson led the Trojans right back down the

eld, completing a key 3rd-and-7 pass 38yards to RB Kavon Bellamy to set the Tro- jans up at the WSSU 33. One play later, hesaw an opening up the middle and sprintedvirtually untouched into the end zone. On its nal possession, WSSUdrove to the VSU 46 before being stopped on downs. VSU scored early on WSSU‘s rst possession on a 61-yardscoop and score by DBDontrell Jones and went up 14-0 early in thesecond quarter following an 80-play drive that consumed over nine min-utes. Johnson ran 11 yards to the goal line before fumbling. VSU line-man Elder Hudson III recovered it in the end zone for the TD. WSSUgot on the board just before the half on a 38-yard pass from QBPhillipSims (15 of 20, 173 yards, 2 TDs, 1 int.) to wideoutEric Williams. TheRams pulled even at 14 with 11:22 left in the fourth quarter as Sims hitBrenden Felder on a 20-yard crossing pattern.

SIAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMETuskegee 47, Albany State 41

MONTGOMERY, AL – FullbackMichael Thomton scored on a3-yard run with 38 seconds left allowing the West Division champ andBCSP No. 9 Tuskegee Golden Tigers (9-2) to prevail with a see-saw47-41 win over BCSP No. 10 and East Division champAlbany State inthe SIAC Championship Game. The twists and turns began on theopening kickoff as Albany State‘s Adrian Al-exander brought it back 98 yards for a TD.Tuskegee would respond with three straightscores, two on TD runs of 18 and 56 yards byRBHoderick Lowe (21 carries, 150 yards) togo up 21-14 at the break.

In the second half, Albany State‘sTa-varius Washington recovered a fumble in theend zone to pull the Golden Rams within 21-20 and RBJarvis Small scored on a 2-yardrun to give them a 27-21 lead. Tuskegee scored the next ten points on a48-yardTroy Wylie feld goal and a 84-yard pass reception byMarquellGardnerto go back up 31-27 at the end of three quarters. In the fourthquarter, ASU retook the lead at 34-31 on a 5-yard pass from QBFrankRivers (17-25-1, 194 yards, 3 TDs, 0 ints.) toLeonard Walker . Tuske-gee took back the lead at 38-31 on a 43-yard pass fromJustin Nared to Kevin Williams. ASU got its last lead at 41-38 as Rivers hitQuadreySimmons on a 10-yard slant with 1:46 left. Tuskegee marched 64 yardsin 11 plays to score on Thornton‘s run.

Albany State fumble d the ensuing kickoff into the en d zone for asafety that ended the scoring.

JOHNSON : Freshmanwith MVP trophy.

Joe Daniels Photo

LOWE : Ran for 150yards, 2 TDs in win.

VState, Tuskegee make D2 playoff eld The CIAA only got league champion Virginia State (9-2) into the 24-team NCAA Div. II playoff eld and the Trojans will be joined by SIACchamp Tuskgee in the championship tournament it was announced Sundayduring the selection show. While CIAA runner-up Winston-Salem State (9-2) did not receive abid, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference got three teams (Blooms-burg, Slippery Rock and West Chester) in.

Virginia State, who was seventh before beating fourth-seed Winston-Salem State (see related story) in Saturday ‘s CIAA title game, was seededthird in Super Region I and will host sixth-seed LIU-Post (8-3) Saturday at12 noon in a rst round playoff game.

The winner of the VSU/LIU game will travel to No. 2 seed Bloomsburg(10-1), who was seeded rst in the region before losing the PSAC champi -onship game Saturday to Slippery Rock, 28-26.

The other half of the Super Region I bracket has No 1 seed and Moun-tain East champion Concord (11-0) getting a rst round bye. Fourth-seedWest Chester (10-1) will face fth-seed Slippery Rock (9-2) in Saturday ‘s

rst round. Tuskegee (9-2) will be a third-seed in the playoffs and will host sixth-seed West Georgia (9-2) in a 12 noon rst round Super Region II game Sat-urday. Te Golden igers are on the side o the bracket with second seedDelta State (9-1), who received a bye and will host the U/UWG winner onNov. 29. Fourth-seed North Alabama (9-1) plays fh-seed Valdosta State (8-2)

MORE THAN BRAGGING RIGHTS: New N. C.Central head coach Jerry Mack (l.) leads his Ea-gles into an I-40 showdown for the MEAC title athome against Rod Broadway (r.) and the league-leading NC A&T Aggies Saturday in Durham.

NC A&T Sports photoNC Central Sports photo

1. ALCORN STATE (9-2) - Crushed Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 56-6. THISWEEK : Finishes the season hosting Jackson State.(TIE) NORTH CAROLINA A&T (9-2) - Shut out Savannah State, 34-0.THIS WEEK : Plays for MEAC title in season-ender at N. C. Central.3. SOUTHERN (7-3) - Beat Miss. Valley State, 44-13. THIS WEEK : Idle.4. VIRGINIA STATE (9-2) - Beat Winston-Salem State 21-17 for CIAA ti-tle. THIS WEEK: First round NCAA Div. II playoff game hosting LIU-Post.5. TUSKEGEE (8-2) - Beat Albany State 47-41 for SIAC title. THISWEEK : First round NCAA Div. II playoff game hosting West Georgia.6. GRAMBLING STATE (7-4) - Knocked off by Alabama State, 37-23.THIS WEEK: Idle.7. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE (7-4) - Fell in the last minute to Morgan

State, 24-21. THIS WEEK : Season-ender hosting Norfolk State.8. BETHUNE-COOKMAN (8-3) - Upended by Hampton, 40-35. THISWEEK : Season-ender at Florida Classic in Orlando vs. Florida A&M.9. WINSTON-SALEM STATE (9-2) - Fell to Virginia State, 21-17 in CIAAtitle game. THIS WEEK : Season over.10. MORGAN STATE (6-5) - Beat BCSP No. 3 S. C. State, 24-21. THISWEEK: Hosts Delaware State.(TIE) NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL (6-5) - Beat Norfolk State, 19-14.THIS WEEK: Closes season at home vs. No. 2 North Carolina A&T.

B C S P F O O T B A L L T O P T E N

BCSP NotesSaturday in the top hal o the bracket. Region top seed Lenoir-Rhyne (11-0)awaits the winner o that game.

The Div. II Championship Game is scheduled for Dec. 20 in KansasCity

O 'Neal advances on Web.com Tour Former Jackson State standout golfer Tim O 'Nea l, playing in theSecond Stage of Web.com Tour Q-School in McKinney, Texas, shot a nalround 8-under-par 64 to nish tied for third with two others at 8-under 280and advance to the Final Stage. The top 18 nishers at the TPC Craig Ranchsite advanced to the Final Qualifying Stage. All golfers that make it to the Final Stage – which is Dec. 11-16 at PGANational in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. – earn at least conditional status onthe Web.com Tour in 2015. The Final Stage involves six competitive rounds. O'Neal shot 71-75-70 and nished with the sizzling 64. In the nalround, he bogeyed the rst hole but then birdied 5, 6, 7 and 8 and eagled No.9. On the back nine, he birdied Nos. 12, 13 and 15.

O'Neal had conditional status on the Tour last year where he played in20 events with three top 25 nishes. He nished 131st on the Money Listwith $39,054 and had a 71.0 scoring average. The McKinney site was oneof three sites used last week for qualifying. There are six sites used overallwith three being contested this week (Nov. 18-21).

Also advancing to the Final Stage was Harold Varner, the 2012 Con-ference USA player of the year at East Carolina, who nished eighth at theSouthern Hills location in Brooksville, Fla. after shooting 72-68-69-68.