CIAA Football: Livingstone 24, Virginia-Lynchburg 21

SALISBURY, NC — The CIAA gods don’t have Livingstone’s football team to kick around anymore.

With one swing of kicker Hillman Tabi’s right foot, the Blue Bears said good-bye and good-riddance to their 28-game losing streak Saturday night at Alumni Stadium.

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful night,” winning coach Elvin James beamed after LC gained a 24-21 double-overtime victory over winless Virginia-Lynchburg, a school fielding its first team in 57 seasons. “Don’t wake me up. I feel like I’m in some dream, a dream come true.”

Not since an Oct. 4, 2008 win against J.C. Smith had the Blue Bears (1-3) outscored an opponent. In three previous games this season they’d been outpointed 133-28 and appeared to be on another treadmill to nowhere.

“Yeah, but in situations like this, you’ve just got to have faith in yourself and your team,” senior Michael Haygood said. “You’ve got to keep pushing. If we fell down seven times, we were getting back up eight.”



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VUL to field first football team since 1954 this fall

A.D./Coach Willard Bailey
VUL Dragons

Lynchburg, VA - Virginia University of Lynchburg plans to launch a football program this fall, more than a half-century after disbanding the team in 1954. The team will begin practice on Aug. 1 and play its first game against North Carolina A&T State University on Sept. 3.

The revival of the football program is part of a large-scale effort to bring back sports to Lynchburg’s only historically black college. This year, VUL will launch a total of 13 men’s and women’s sports teams.

“The time is ripe to bring it back,” said Willard Bailey, head football coach and director of athletics at VUL. “Not just football but the entire arena of intercollegiate athletics … Our students are calling for more than a library, a good meal and a classroom.”

VUL president Ralph Reavis spearheaded the effort to revive the sports program in response to demand from students, alumni and community members, Bailey said. The move coincides with an enrollment surge and the addition of a new dormitory on campus. The college expects an enrollment of more than 800 students this fall, up from about 550 last year.

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North Carolina A&T Aggies has opponent for home opener

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The North Carolina A&T football team has an opponent for Saturday, Sept. 3. The Aggies are scheduled to play Virginia University of Lynchburg at Aggie Stadium. Game time is 4 p.m.

"I want to first thank the Aggie family for its patience while we searched for a new opponent," said Director of Athletics Earl Hilton. "It was important to provide our devoted fans with an exciting five-game home schedule. (VUL) is one of the original members of the CIAA, so we are pleased to be playing an institution with a similar history to ours."

Like N.C. A&T, VUL is a former member of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. VUL is returning to collegiate football after nearly seven decades without it. The Dragons are currently a university-sponsored independent who offers students athletic scholarships. VUL is in the process of reapplying to the NCAA as a Division II athletics program with hopes of becoming a CIAA member again. The Dragons' current governing body is the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. VUL also sponsors men's and women's basketball, men's golf and men's and women's track and field.

North Carolina A&T finished 1-10 overall and 1-7 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference last season. With the hiring of a proven winner -- Head Coach Rod Broadway, expectations are high in AggiesNation.

Courtesy: NC A&T Sports Information


Videographer: SpeechlessQue; NCA&T Whoa