Thursday, November 10, 2011

Elizabeth City State stumbled early, then recovered

Durham, North Carolina -- When Elizabeth City State was 0-2 in September, coach Waverly Tillar admitted, he was a little worried. "I was like, what's going on here?" Tillar said.

But his Vikings (8-2) responded with eight consecutive victories and reached the CIAA title game, where they'll play Winston-Salem State on Saturday with a chance to avenge a 22-17 loss Sept. 3. Elizabeth City's other loss was at top-ranked Delta State, 28-21 in overtime. "Here we are," Tillar said.

Several Vikings players said they were hoping for a chance to play the Rams again, and they got it by winning the CIAA's Northern Division title.

"Basically, we were disappointed in ourselves early in the season," said Daronte McNeill, a junior running back who has 1,435 yards and 20 touchdowns this season and Elizabeth City's career record of 3,332 yards. "We had to sit down and look at ourselves and just figure out what we were missing and what we needed to get over the hump."



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