VUU focused on playoff spot, VSU wants to send seniors out with win in rivalry

ETTRICK, Virginia -- Virginia Union and Virginia State are going to play a football game Saturday in Ettrick. That was going to happen, regardless of what the CIAA would decide regarding CIAA front-runner Bowie State self-reporting that it used an ineligible player earlier in the season.

This week, the Panthers’ and Trojans’ focus has been in one place, on one thing - each other.

The CIAA announced Friday that it would levy sanctions on Bowie State (8-1, 6-0 CIAA) for using an ineligible player during the season. The penalty is a reduction in the team’s winning percentage for every game the player appeared.

According to media reports, the Bowie State starting quarterback through the Bulldogs' first five games, Matthew Goggans, was discovered and self-reported by the school to have been ineligible. Two of those games were CIAA games.

That affects Saturday's Union-State game for this reason: The reduction of winning percentage against Bowie State means that if Virginia Union (7-2, 5-1) beats Virginia State on Saturday, and Bowie State loses to Elizabeth City State (4-4, 2-4), then the Panthers will clinch the Northern Division and a berth in the CIAA championship game Nov. 14 in Durham, N.C.

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