ECSU Releases 2011 Football Schedule

ELIZABETH CITY, NC- The Elizabeth City State University Athletic Department has released their 10-game football slate for the 2011 season.

ECSU will host four games at Roebuck Stadium beginning with the season opener September 3rd against Winston-Salem State University at 6:00pm. In their last meeting during the 2005 season the Rams held on for a 24-23 win over the Vikings at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem.

The Vikings will return to the River City in week seven (October 15th) for Homecoming 2011 when they welcome Virginia State University for a 1:30pm kick-off. Bowie State will visit the following week on October 22nd) and ECSU will close out their home slate with the season finale on November 5thagainst Lincoln University. Both games will begin at 1:00pm at Roebuck Stadium.

On September 10th the 14th Annual Down East Viking Football Classic will feature Livingstone College as the Blue Bears make their first trip to Rocky Mount. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00pm at the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex.

After the "Down East" ECSU will hit the road for four straight away games beginning with Fayetteville State on September 17th (6:00pm), defending CIAA Champion Shaw University in Durham on September 24th (2:00pm) followed by Saint Paul's College on October 1st. The Vikings will look to play spoiler when they visit Virginia Union University as the Panthers' Homecoming opponent at Hovey Field in Richmond, VA on October 8th.

ECSU will take a short trip to Chowan University on October 29th, their first to Murfreesboro since the Hawks joined the CIAA (football only) in 2008. The Vikings are coming off a 6-4 season (CIAA 5-2) good for third place in the CIAA Northern Division.

The 2011 CIAA Football Championship will take place on November 12th. For more information on ECSU Athletics, visit www.ecsuvikings.com.

2011 Vikings Football Schedule
Date Opponent / Event Location Time

09/03/11 vs. Winston-Salem State Elizabeth City, N.C. (Roebuck Stadium) 6:00 p.m. ET
09/10/11 vs. Livingstone Rocky Mount, NC (Rocky Mount Athletic Complex) 4:00 p.m. ET
09/17/11 at Fayetteville State Fayetteville, NC (Luther "Nick" Jeralds Stadium) 6:00 p.m. ET
09/24/11 at Shaw* Durham, NC (Durham County Memorial Stadium) 2:00 p.m. ET
10/01/11 at St. Paul's College Lawrenceville, VA 1:00 p.m. ET
10/08/11 at Virginia Union Richmond, VA (Hovey Field) 1:00 p.m. ET
10/15/11 vs. Virginia State (HOMECOMING) Elizabeth City, N.C. (Roebuck Stadium) 1:30 p.m. ET
10/22/11 vs. Bowie State Elizabeth City, N.C. (Roebuck Stadium) 1:00 p.m. ET
10/29/11 at Chowan Murfreesboro, NC (Garrison Stadium) 12:00 p.m. ET
11/05/11 vs. Lincoln (Pa.) (SENIOR DAY) Elizabeth City, N.C. (Roebuck Stadium) 1:00 p.m


Courtesy ECSU Media Relations

ECSU’s Jenkins first team All-America

Elizabeth City State defensive end Malcolm Jenkins was named to the first team Daktronics All-America team on Tuesday, becoming just the second Viking to be named to the Division II honor squad. Defensive back Howard Williams is the only other ECSU player to make the team. He was selected in 2004.

In the preseason, Jenkins was named to the Lindy’s All-America team and did not disappoint throughout the season.

Jenkins CIAA’s top defender

Just one Elizabeth City State football player made the All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association first team, but it was big one. Defensive end Malcolm Jenkins not only made the first team for the second year in a row, but he was also named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“Malcolm did a lot of things good,” ECSU coach Waverly Tillar said. “He’s consistent most every game out and he gave the offenses we faced a fit.”

 Jenkins led the CIAA in sacks with 13 and tackles for loss with 18.5. The senior from Florence, N.J., led the Vikings with 27 quarterback hurries and was third on the team with 42 tackles.

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Videographer: SpeechlessQue

Videographer: knightstreetprod

BSU Bulldogs Win on Senior Day, 20-12 over ECSU

The Bowie State Bulldogs (5-4 overall, 5-1 CIAA) on Senior day found a way despite giving up 500 yards in total offense and not scoring in the second half to defeat Elizabeth State (4-4 overall, 3-2 CIAA), 20-12. The win gives the Bulldogs a fighting chance of earning a CIAA championship birth with two weeks remaining in the season.

"The guys played for the seniors today and they played a good game," said coach Damon Wilson. "This is a good Elizabeth City team." "The guys fought for four quarters and found a way to win the ballgame, so it was great to finish our home stretch with a W."

The Bulldogs won the game because of three things: on offense, they were efficient and ran the ball successfully; on defense, they were able to create three turnovers when Elizabeth City was within a yard of the end zone; and finally, special teams was fantastic creating two touchdowns.

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Fayetteville State fails to capitalize on early lead

Rocky Mount, N.C. - Fayetteville State was given every chance to put away Elizabeth City State during the first half of the Down East Viking Football Classic on Saturday at the Rocky Mount Sports Complex. But as time continued to tick off the clock and a partisan Elizabeth City State crowd grew restless with some poor play by the Vikings early, hope emerged.

It came in the form of a defense that didn’t let things get out of hand, and when Elizabeth City State’s special teams caught a break, momentum followed in its favor. “We had a few stumbles and falls, but we picked it back up, and that’s what we needed to do,” Elizabeth City State wide receiver Dexter Manley said after his team rallied for a 38-26 victory in the 13th edition of the Classic.

Photo Gallery: Down East Viking Football Classic tailgating

Elizabeth City state rallies for Down East Viking Classic victory

With roughly a minute remaining in the first half, Fayetteville State had already watched its 13-point lead against Elizabeth City State shrink to three.

ECSU Vikings travel for 13th Down East Classic

Packing up a football team and traveling 100 miles to play a home game might seem like a pitfall of distractions, but for the Elizabeth City State Vikings, this weekend is a familiar process.

Today’s Down East Viking Football Classic in Rocky Mount has grown into a second homecoming of sorts for ECSU. The weekend is full of parties, banquets and a football game to cap everything off. This year’s game, the 13th year of the event, pits ECSU (1-1) against fellow Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association member Fayetteville State (1-1), although this does not count as a league game. With all that surrounds the game, the Vikings are somewhat insulated from it, according to coach Waverly Tillar.

Down East Classic game features two programs on the rise

When Elizabeth City State plays host to Fayetteville State in the 13th annual Down East Viking Football Classic at 4 p.m.today at the Rocky Mount Sports Complex, the two teams will showcase more than an intrastate rivalry. Both the Vikings and the Broncos are Division II programs on the rise, especially visiting Fayetteville State, which finished last season seventh in the Super Regional 1 rankings.

“We’re coming along pretty good. We’ve been pretty consistent. We won the (CIAA) championship last year, and the past two years have been very...

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ECSU Vikings' Jenkins an All-America

When Malcolm Jenkins arrived at Elizabeth City State as a freshman, coaches threw him No. 71. He took that as a slight. Wearing an offensive lineman’s number was unfitting for a defensive end. Now a senior, Jenkins’ No. 92 is a number Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association quarterbacks fear most.

“They didn’t even expect me to play.” Jenkins recalled of his freshman season. “They probably wanted me on special teams or redshirt and sit out a year. I had this big jersey on, an O-lineman jersey. I took it as a sign of disrespect, like they think I’m not going do anything, so...

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Elizabeth City State Vikings' Powell was ready, able

It was not that long ago that Elizabeth City State’s football team struggled for wins. The turnaround occurred in 2006 when Curtis Rich emerged from a crowded quarterback corps to lead the Vikings to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship game and head coach Waverly Tillar made a commitment to solidifying the position.

The next season, with Rich entrenched, Tillar recruited Pasquotank’s Creven Powell, convincing him to come to ECSU over offers from Norfolk State and North Carolina A&T, and the rest, as they say, was history. “I told the coaches after the 2006 football season, I don’t ever want to have another quarterback situation where we played musical chairs with quarterback and not having the type of quarterback to move this offense,” Tillar said.

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Elizabeth City State Vikings' Manley back for final season

ECSU Manley,#5 averages an insane 23.9 yards per catch over his career.

NFL scouts are already familiar with Elizabeth City State wide receiver Dexter Manley. In fact, most thought he was a senior and would be coming out for 2010 draft, but it turned out Manley had one more year of college eligibility left. Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association foes wish he had left. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Manley, now really a senior, leads an explosive Vikings offense that averaged 32.5 points per game in 2009.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to coach guys that were athletic and I’ve been fortunate enough to coach guys that were smart football players. He is the rare combination of both,” ECSU offensive coordinator Alvin Parker said. “He knows what’s going on totally with our scheme and he’s athletic enough to make any play out there on the field.”

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