NCAA Div. II Championship: Battle of styles for ECSU vs. Cal U.

CALIFORNIA, Pennsylvania -- When it comes to style of play, particularly on offense, California University has little in common with NCAA Division II playoff foe Elizabeth City State (N.C.). That's because Elizabeth City State (8-3) thrives on the running game, while the Vulcans (9-2) love to move the ball quickly through the air.

The teams collide at noon Saturday at Adamson Stadium in a Super Region One first rounder. Cal is seeded fourth and Elizabeth City fifth in the region.

While Cal has a solid running attack, led by Lamont Smith with 995 yards on 115 carries and two touchdowns, those stats pale in comparison to Vikings running back Daronte McNeill, who has carried the ball 334 times for 1,580 yards and scored 22 TDs. He is ranked fifth in the nation in rushing, first in attempts and third in touchdowns.

Elizabeth City State's second-leading rusher, Kevin Swain, has 624 yards on 131 carries with five TDs.

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Sharpless back; Elizabeth City State Vikings primed

Elizabeth City, North Carolina -- For Elizabeth City State’s men’s basketball team, 2010 started out with a lot of promise.

Coming off a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship game appearance, the Vikings were picked to win the Northern Division and tabbed as one of the favorites to capture the league title.

But things did not work out quite the way they hoped. Injuries and inconsistent play plagued ECSU as it finished with an 18-10 record, but with much of the same cast returning for 2011, the league’s coaches have once again pointed to the Vikings as a team to be reckoned with, picking them to finish second in the Northern Division.

ECSU opens its season tonight at home against Southern Virginia.

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CIAA title game could be a hot ticket

Durham, North Carolina -- The CIAA's football championship game isn't going anywhere. In fact, for it to move from Durham County Stadium, one other thing would have to happen first, said commissioner Leon Kerry. "They are going to have to carry me out of there," Kerry said.

The CIAA played a football championship game from 1970 until 1973 and from 1981 to 1992. The game was resurrected in 2000, and it has turned into a money maker for the conference, Kerry said. Winston-Salem State will play Elizabeth City State at 1 p.m. Saturday in this season's title game in Durham, and Kerry is thrilled with the match-up.

"I think it's clear that the two best teams in the conference are there," he said. "And they are both ranked in the region, so that says a lot that both of them are playing for the title."

Kerry also is excited about the prospect of a sellout, and said he wouldn't be surprised to see the 12,000-seat stadium full, especially if the weather is nice. WSSU always has had one of the best traveling fan bases in the CIAA, and Elizabeth City State fans also have a strong reputation for following their teams.

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ECSU football still has business to settle

Elizabeth City, North Carolina -- Elizabeth City State’s immediate future has been set for a few weeks now. But there is one more piece of business the Vikings have to take care of before next week’s Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship game.

ECSU closes out the regular season with a Senior Day home game against Lincoln today. The Vikings, who clinched their spot in the CIAA title game opposite Winston-Salem State two weeks ago, are approaching today’s game the same way they have the first nine games of the season.

“Our concentration is on Lincoln as we always try to take it one game at a time,” ECSU coach Waverly Tillar said.

While the game might be meaningless in the CIAA standings, ECSU has a bigger picture to look at. The Vikings are clinging to the fifth spot in the NCAA Division II Super Region One poll, which would put them into the playoff field if the season ended today. But the season does not end today.

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ECSU PREPARES TO SALUTE 20 FOOTBALL SENIORS SATURDAY

ELIZABETH CITY, NC - The Elizabeth City State University football team will host Senior Day on Saturday, November 5th prior to the start of the Vikings' season finale with Lincoln University of Pennsylvania.

ECSU pause pregame to salute 20 student-athletes who will be playing at their final regular season home game at Roebuck Stadium. They are; Creven Powell, Anthony Faulcon, Baron Coffin, Torri Stewart, Earnest Murphy, Larry Jones, Domonic Strand, DeAundre Barfield, Sanerivi Reupena, Kahawaiolaa Soon, Jermaine Lindsay, John Davis, Brandon White, Brandon Smith, Sean Gueringer, DeWitt Dixon, Billy Wiggins, Bryan Garnett, Tolbert Matthews and Devven Sutton.

These seniors have been an integral part of the Vikings' third appearance since 2006 in the CIAA title game. This year the Vikings will square off against Winston-Salem State University on Saturday, November 12 at Durham County Stadium in Durham, NC.

However before the trip westbound to the Bull City, the Vikings will look to run their win streak to eight games over the visiting Lions of Lincoln University.

Saturday Viking fans may also witness a bit of history as junior tailback Daronte McNeill needs only 12 yards to become ECSU's all-time leading rusher.

Courtesy ECSU Sports Information

Walker stressing short-term goals for loaded ECSU Vikings

Camden, North Carolina - The surroundings may not have been familiar, but when Elizabeth City State men’s basketball coach Shawn Walker looked around the Camden High gym Sunday, there were plenty of familiar faces.

The Vikings, conducting their second day of preseason practice at Camden because homecoming festivities had the RL Vaughan Center booked, return 12 players from the team that went 18-10 last season, including most of the starters.

Two other known quantities — former CIAA Rookie of the Year Angelo Sharpless and Winston-Salem State transfer Michael Bonner — are also on the roster.

Sharpless sat out the 2010-11 season while mending a broken leg and then dealing with a few undisclosed issues while Bonner was a regular at practice last year, but couldn’t play when he got caught up in an unexpected interpretation of a CIAA transfer rule.

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ECSU Vikings finally coming home

Elizabeth City, North Carolina -- Elizabeth City State’s football team will not only be celebrating the school’s annual homecoming today, it be celebrating an actual homecoming — its own. When the Vikings kick off against Virginia State today, it will be their first game on campus since Sept. 3, a span of six weeks.

“When I looked at the schedule, I felt we had a long stretch there, but it’s just dawned on me how long it’s really been,” ECSU coach Waverly Tillar said. “It’s good to be home. As a matter of fact, I finally unpacked my bag the other night.

“It will be good to be back at home and give some of the people that haven’t had a chance, a chance to see us.”

There is little time for Tillar and the Vikings (4-2, 2-1) to enjoy the comforts of home, though. A victory over the Trojans will push them one step closer to a third division title in six years, a spot in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship game on Nov. 12 and a chance at a title that has eluded them.



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Turnovers a backbreaker for Fayetteville State against Elizabeth City State

Fayetteville, NC - Cedrick Snead hugged freshman quarterback Chauncey Concepcion as they jogged together toward the Fayetteville State sideline, and benched starter Brandon Blumears-Cluff gave Concepcion a congratulatory slap on the helmet.

Concepcion capped his first series with a crowd-pleasing touchdown pass, but the honeymoon period quickly turned into a painful indoctrination.

Elizabeth City State forced three costly turnovers and scored two defensive touchdowns in a 42-21 victory against the Broncos on Saturday night.



Concepcion entered the lineup after ECSU's William Davis returned a first-quarter interception 56 yards for a score, and Fayetteville State (0-3) pulled within 14-7 when Antonio Allen caught a 35-yard TD pass on the next possession. The Vikings (2-2) dominated the last 10 minutes of the second quarter, sacking Concepcion three times and posting a trio of touchdowns in rapid succession to claim a 35-7 lead.

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WSSU appears loaded … on paper

Winston Salem, NC - Winston-Salem State is expecting to contend for the CIAA football title and will find out starting today if its expectations are realistic. WSSU will open with a CIAA game at Elizabeth City State's Roebuck Stadium at 6 p.m.

Coach Connell Maynor of WSSU seems to have it all — depth, speed and experience after an 8-2 finish in his debut season. But he's quick to point out that, despite how things look on paper, it's what's done on the field that counts.

"We have a veteran team coming back, and we'll be ready to go," said Maynor, who returns 18 starters. Quarterback Kameron Smith, running back Nic Cooper and wide receivers Tehvyn Brantley and Dominique Fitzgerald are weapons on offense.



"I'm so excited about the season getting started," Brantley said. "We are tired of playing against our defense. I mean, it's hard when we have the best offense and the best defense and you have to play against each other all the time in practice. It gets old…."

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ECSU Vikings’ LB Dixon opens with career-high 17 tackles

Elizabeth City, NC - Elizabeth City State linebacker DeWitt Dixon is used to winning. In his high school career at Charlotte Independence, he was never on a losing side, going undefeated and winning a state championship each season.  Now a senior at ECSU, Dixon has that championship feeling again.

“We work way too hard to be second best or be second tier,” said Dixon as he and the Vikings prepare for Saturday’s Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association against Winston-Salem State.

Some of that confidence was born last week. Dixon recorded a career-best 17 tackles in a 28-21 overtime loss at No. 2 Delta State.



“I hate to dwell on almost beating the No. 2 team in the country,” said Dixon, who was named the CIAA Linebacker of the Week on Monday. “Yeah, we didn’t pull it off, but ...

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At last, Smith’s time arrives at ECSU

Elizabeth City, N.C. - As the Elizabeth City State football team’s season opener approaches, Brandon Smith may be the most grateful player on the Vikings’ squad. Smith has not played football in two years and it was not long ago that he thought his career might be over.

“I really do appreciate it more,” said Smith, who will play his first game in a Vikings uniform on Saturday at Delta State. “I mean, I waited two years to play one year, not knowing what could happen after this year. I just wanted to fulfill my whole college term of playing football.”

Smith, a senior, was a star at Virginia Union. The 6-foot, 235-pound outside linebacker was an All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association rookie team pick in 2006 and followed that up with back-to-back ...

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14th Annual DownEast Viking Football Classic

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ECSU Names Brenda Brown Head Volleyball Coach

LADY VIKINGS HEAD COACH BRENDA BROWN

ELIZABETH CITY, NC- Elizabeth City State University officially announces the hiring of Brenda Brown as the head coach of the Lady Viking volleyball team.

Brown replaces Linda Bell who moves into the role of Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance for the department.

This will be the first head coaching job for Brown who comes to ECSU after a much heralded career as a volleyball student-athlete at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. During her career as a Lady Eagle (2002-2005), Brown was a two-time All-CIAA First Team selection (2004, 2005). She garnered Second Team honors as a sophomore in 2003 and was a member of the All-Rookie team in 2002. In 2004 Brown was a member of the team that captured the school's second CIAA Volleyball Championship in 2004 and was named Most Valuable Player of the CIAA Tournament her senior season when the team repeated as conference champions. Her final season NCCU posted an impressive 29-14 overall mark and went a perfect 16-0 in conference play.

Her junior year Brown was voted to the 2004 Daktronics Division II Women's Volleyball All-Atlantic Region Second Team.

During her stint as a player, the Lady Eagles were 59-5 versus conference opponents, played in four straight CIAA title games and advanced to the NCAA playoffs twice. She finished her career as NCCU's all-time leader in digs with 1,465 and ranks 4th all-time in kills with 1,168 and 7th in service aces at 125.

Brown holds a B.A in Sports Management (2006) and earned a Masters in Athletic Administration in 2010 from North Carolina Central University.

For more information on ECSU Athletics, visit ECSUVIKINGS

READ RELATED ARTICLE: NCCU grad Brown is new volleyball coach at ECSU

14th Annual DownEast Viking Football Classic

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ECSU, with 5 All-CIAA picks, gets nod in division

Elizabeth City, N.C. - Heading into the 2011 football season few people are questioning Elizabeth City State’s ability to score points. The biggest question is how the Vikings will manage to stop opposing teams with the loss of Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year Malcolm Jenkins.

CIAA coaches think the Vikings will do just fine as they have picked the team to win the Northern Division in their annual preseason ranking.

The regard for ECSU’s offense is shown in the preseason All-CIAA team, where five Vikings were selected, four from the offensive side of the ball. Two Elizabeth City native lead the way...

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NEXT GAME: 8/27/11 at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS at 6:00pm CST
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Will Harris: Chalk one up for the good guys

Elizabeth City, N.C. - It was a good day when I heard that Michael Bonner would be able to play basketball for Elizabeth City State next season. I had been championing Bonner’s cause for quite a while, but it seemed like nothing was going to change and he would have to sit out another season because of other people’s mistakes.

Bonner, a former Perquimans standout, transferred to ECSU from Winston-Salem State last summer. Normally, this would not be an issue and he could play right away, but Winston-Salem was making the transition back into the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and league rules say a player moving between CIAA schools must sit out two years. That rule was waived for that year since Winston-Salem, as well as Lincoln which was entering the league at the same time, if players enrolled in summer school. But Booner was not...

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CIAA rules ECSU's Bonner eligible next season

Elizabeth City, NC - The Michael Bonner saga has a happy ending after all.

Bonner, the former Perquimans standout basketball player who sat out last season in an eligibility controversy at Elizabeth City State after transferring from Winston-Salem State, has been granted a waiver from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and ruled eligible for the upcoming season.

“Man, it’s been a fight,” said Bonner, who will have two years of eligibility remaining. “I lost a year (of eligibility) out of the three years I would have had, but I was just grateful get it over.”

Bonner, the 2007 Daily Advance Player of the Year, was caught up in a mess created when Winston-Salem abandoned its Division I plans and rejoined the CIAA in 2010.

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READ RELATED ARTICLES:
ECSU’s Bonner in limbo
Harris: Does anyone care about Michael Bonner?
Incoming ... Booner comes to ECSU
Harris: Seems like it was a little too late for Bonner

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ECSU lands Key recruit from Japan

Elizabeth City, NC -- Elizabeth City State basketball coach Shawn Walker recently went on a trip to Okinawa, Japan, to work at a coaching clinic. While it was a personally rewarding experience, Walker also managed to get a little work in. He not only returned home with some unforgettable memories, he came back with Kentrell Key, who will be joining the Vikings next year as part of a three-man recruiting class.

Along with Key, Walker has recruited Camden’s Shawn Hammonds, a 6-foot-5 swingman, and Glenn Patterson Jr., a 5-foot-9, 170-pound point guard from Red Springs who averaged 24.6 points per game as a senior. Local fans might remember Patterson as he scored 27 points to lead Red Springs past Hammonds and Camden in the regional semifinals of the 1A state playoffs.

Walker thinks Patterson is the most likely...

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Spruill signs with Elizabeth City State University

HERTFORD, N.C. — Dustin Spruill has decided to play college baseball for the coach who remained most loyal to him. The Perquimans catcher, a Division I prospect until 11th grade when rotator cuff surgery scared off recruiters, has signed with Elizabeth City State.

While there were still some other suitors out there, Spruill wants to play for Vikings coach Terrance Whittle.

“He’s the one coach who has stuck with me all the way,” Spruill said. “He’s willing to give me a chance, even with my shoulder. I really want to thank him for that opportunity. “A lot of guys in my situation wouldn’t get a second chance.”

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Randolph tosses no-hitter as ECSU Vikings sweep Shaw Bears

Final Stats
ELIZABETH CITY, NC- The Elizabeth City State University baseball team kept their hopes for a berth in next week's CIAA tournament alive with a double header sweep of Shaw University 7-0 and 8-0 Thursday afternoon.

However the, Vikings' post season push temporarily served as a backdrop to a near flawless performance by freshman Kerich Randolph, who threw a no-hitter in the game 7-0 win over Shaw in game one.

"I wasn't aware of it," the Bolivia, NC native said. "I didn't know until my teammates told me in between games. A lot of the credit goes to them because they made some great plays today."

Randolph, who leads the Vikings in strikeouts this season with 72, fanned 10 batters on Thursday. "In a way, I'm glad I didn't know (about the no-hitter). I felt good out there today. I'm just happy we got two wins."

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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