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ETTRICK, VA – The Livingstone College football team fell in its season-opener Saturday, 30-6, on the road at Virginia State.
Virginia State took the opening kickoff of the contest and went 49 yards in nine plays and finished off its opening drive with a 25-yard field goal to go up 3-0 with 11:13 to play in the first quarter.
On Livingstone's ensuing possession it was able to pick up one first down on a big pass play, but was forced to punt after the next three plays.
The Blue Bear defense stepped up on the next series as they forced a fumble on the first VSU play and had first down and goal to go at the nine yard line. Livingstone was unable to move the ball at all and attempted a field goal. Sophomore kicker Miles Harris missed a 27-yard field-goal attempt and Virginia State took over.
The Trojans took charge on their next possession. Virginia State's Jarred Battle capped off a 10-play, 88-yard drive with a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Trojans up 10-0 with 1:01 to play in the first quarter.
Livingstone held possession of the ball into the second half, but were forced to punt with 11:57 left in the first half. On the next Trojan possession sophomore defensive lineman Dorian Edwards forced a fumble that was recovered by junior linebacker Travis Holliday. The turnover didn't enable to the Blue Bears to get anything going as they were forced to punt after only three plays.
After the two teams traded two rounds of punts, the Trojans took the ball with 2:30 to play in the first half. Virginia State ran eight plays and drove 63 yards to put up its second touchdown of the contest. The extra point was wide right and the Trojans led 16-0, which stood for the halftime score.
At the half, the Blue Bears had managed only 54 yards on 27 plays. Sophomore quarterback Curtis Edens threw for 25 yards while sophomore running back Miles Harris gained 23 yards on 10 carries. Juniors Michael Haygood and Shawntez Jones along with freshman Jammal Acree each had four tackles in the first 30 minutes.
Livingstone took the opening kickoff of the second half, but managed to hold the ball for only 14 seconds before having to punt. It's punt was blocked and Virginia State took over.
The Blue Bear defense stepped up yet again, forcing their fourth turnover of the contest as the Trojans fumbled on their first play. The fumble was recovered by junior linebacker Bryan Aycoth. With just over 12 minutes to play the Blue Bears were again forced to punt on a fourth down and one yard to go. With the play clock running down, the Trojans were nailed with an offsides call, giving the Blue Bears a first down.
As the clock ticked under 10 minutes to play the Blue Bears were again facing a punt. This time a fake punt was the call on the field, but it failed and the Trojans took over.
After trading punts, the Blue Bears took over from their own four yard line and after two plays fumbled the ball with the Trojans recovering. Virginia State punched home a touchdown on a fourth and goal to go to go up 30-0.
On the ensuing kickoff return, junior running back Jamel Moore took the return back 82 yards to the Trojan eight yard line. Two plays later Edens connected with freshman wide receiver Miguel Harrison for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed and VSU led 30-6. The Trojans took a knee on the final play to take the opener 30-6.
Livingstone gained 109 yards on 57 plays Saturday. Curtis Edens completed seven passes for 46 yards and freshman Raymond Mallos completed three passes for 18 yards. Miles Harris led the Blue Bears on the ground with 42 yards while Omar McFadden caught three passes for 94 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball juniors Justin Johnson and Shawntez Jones each recorded seven tackles for the Blue Bears. Jones also recorded 2.5 tackles for loss. Overall the defense caused five Trojan turnovers.
With the loss, the Blue Bears fell to 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference on the season while Virginia State improved to 1-0. Due to CIAA scheduling, the game only counted as a conference game for Livingstone.
The Blue Bears will return to the field on Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. when they travel to Newberry, SC to take on the Wolves of Newberry College.
