Sunday, November 27, 2011

ODU's first playoff win sends penalty-laden Norfolk State home

NORFOLK, VA — Even as he watched the 98-yard touchdown happen, Ronnie Cameron was forgetting about it.

"We always have a mentality of, 'Play the next play,' " said Cameron, Old Dominion's senior defensive tackle and the Colonial Athletic Association defensive player of the year. "Things happen. Things have happened all year. We've just got to bounce back from it. That's what a resilient team does. That's what a mature team does.

"Don't let one play define the rest of the game."

ODU took those words to heart in a major way on Saturday as the Monarchs squared off against Norfolk State in the first meeting of the crosstown opponents, which also happened to be both teams' first appearance in the FCS playoffs.

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Roaring success for first-ever Crosstown Showdown

NORFOLK, Virginia -- Gene Thomas II and three fellow Norfolk State football fans intended to join a Spartans tailgate party on the west side of Old Dominion's Foreman Field early Saturday afternoon. They were detained as they walked on the east side, however, by the kindness of strangers - a gaggle of ODU fans offering pregame food, drinks and good-natured banter.

And so loyal Spartans stayed put among proud Monarchs as time ticked toward the so-called Crosstown Showdown, an NCAA playoff game at the Football Championship Subdivision level.

"Sportsmanship has arrived in Norfolk," said Thomas, a former NSU marching band member and a music teacher at Portsmouth's I.C. Norcom High.

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