Kentucky State Stays Perfect, Beats Lincoln 43-27

Frankfort, KY – In a highly anticipated home opener, the Kentucky State University Thorobreds galloped past the Lincoln University Lions with a score of 43-27.

Lincoln won the coin toss and deferred to the second half and the Thorobreds elected to receive the opening kick. During the opening drive, quarterback, Jerrel Noland threw his first interception of the season resulting in a 39 yard touchdown for Lincoln.

In retaliation, KSU senior defensive back, Keith Massey, returned a kick for 79 yards and freshman kicker, Cade Berryman assisted in tying the game 7-7, making the PAT.

Kentucky State closed the first half with Noland making two 1 yard rushing touchdowns, combined with a rushing touchdown by Andrew Ramsey, giving the Breds a 28-14 lead at halftime.

Kentucky State added nine points in the third quarter that extended the Thorobreds’ lead to 37-20. In the fourth quarter, Berryman nailed a 43-yard field goal with 7:30 to play, giving the Breds a 20-point lead (40-20), but Lincoln marched down the field and scored on a 24-yard pass from Cook to Garlin Gardner, bringing the score to 40-27, in favor of the Breds. With 2:02 to play in the game, Berryman made a 39-yard field goal to bring the score to its final 43-27.

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Southern tops Alabama A&M

Baton Rouge, LA - Dray Joseph believed he was a better quarterback. He felt it.

In the days after Joseph and the Southern football team lost an ugly season opener, Joseph said he focused on his playbook and trusted his instincts. He also prayed.

Saturday at A.W. Mumford Stadium, hours before the Jaguars began Southwestern Athletic Conference play with a stunning 21-6 victory over Alabama A&M, the sophomore quarterback wrote a biblical verse, Mark 9:23, on one of his taped wrists. Everything is possible for one who believes.




Saturday night, Joseph believed in himself, and his teammates believed in each other.

It certainly showed.

In a virtuoso performance that stunned almost as many Southern fans as it did the visiting team, the Jaguars ripped apart Alabama A&M’s secondary for 332 passing yards ...

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Southern notes: Jaguars end skid at 7 games

If you believe Southern football coach Stump Mitchell, the results of Saturday’s 21-6 victory over Alabama A&M were not surprising at all. Not to him. “No,” the second-year coach said. “Last week was shocking.”

Mitchell was referring to last week’s season-opening 33-7 loss at Tennessee State, during which the Jaguars were often manhandled at the line of scrimmage.

At the time, it dropped Mitchell’s record to 2-10 at Southern. It also extended the team’s losing streak to seven games, including a six-game slide to end last year.

“It was only a one-game losing streak for this team,” Mitchell said. “But for me, it was seven or eight, or whatever it was. It was too long.”

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QB Mason takes road less traveled

Huntsville, AL - At the end of every summer workout and practice in the grueling heat, Alabama A&M quarterback Deaunte Mason and his teammates closed with this: “SWAC Champs.”

For Mason, and his teammates, that is the ultimate goal. Instilling this motto, as Mason characterizes it, made A&M shake off the feeling of a 3-8 season in 2010. The 21-year-old Mason’s journey to Huntsville, Ala., was a road he didn’t expect to travel.

Named Tennessee’s Mr. Football for Class 3A in 2008, Mason passed for 2,375 yards, rushed for 1,052 yards and scored 35 touchdowns as a senior at Pearl-Cohn High School, in Nashville, Tenn. His strong senior season garnered a scholarship from the University of Kentucky.

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SU defense gets rid of bad taste

Baton Rouge, LA - It was a collaborative effort Saturday night as Southern University vanquished its seven-game losing streak with a 21-6 win over Southwestern Athletic Conference rival Alabama A&M.

The Southern offense scored two pacesetting touchdowns in the first 7 minutes, and the Jaguars defense responded with just as much heart.

A week earlier, Southern’s defense surrendered more than 300 yards on the ground as it was manhandled by Tennessee State’s physical offensive line. But the defense showed its resiliency and held the Bulldogs to just 60 yards on the ground.




“We wanted to control the clock, and keep (Alabama A&M) off the field some,” Southern coach Stump Mitchell said of the Jaguars’ approach. “Last week, Tennessee State was just much bigger than us.”


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UAPB Golden Lions rally to take a 27-20 victory over Alcorn State

PINE BLUFF, Ark.- After falling behind 20-10 going into intermission the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff football team (1-1, 1-0 SWAC) knew they would have to put together a solid second half in order to capture a win over the Alcorn State Braves (0-2, 0-2 SWAC).

The Golden Lions did just that rallying with 17 unanswered points in the games' final two quarters capturing a thrilling come from behind victory over Alcorn State on Saturday night.



The spark UAPB needed came in the form of a dominating running game that found new life in the second half. In all Arkansas-Pine Bluff rushed for 238 rushing yards on 47 attempts led by Adrian Moore's 130 yard rushing performance.

“Moore, Jones, and Jenkins played outstanding tonight, said UAPB head coach Monte Coleman. “And our defense was able to rise to the challenge that we set before them at halftime.”

The Golden Lions defense continued to apply pressure to Alcorn State's Brandon Bridge in the second half keeping the quick, agile sophomore on the run the majority of the evening.



“Bridge is an amazing athlete,” said Coleman. “He actually got my vote for Preseason Player of the Year. We told our guys that in order to be successful against him pressure would be the key and we were able to generate that pressure with consistency in the second half.”


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Up 12-10 at the half, NSU fails to stop WVU onslaught

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Norfolk State's football team turned in a memorable performance against No. 19 West Virginia on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Spartans, only the first 30 minutes will be worth remembering.

After building a remarkable 12-10 halftime lead before 51,911 fans at Milan Puskar Stadium, NSU disappeared in the second half, allowing the Mountaineers to score on all seven of their possessions and roll to a 55-12 win. Also forgettable were the Spartans' 19 penalties for 177 yards, each a record for a WVU opponent.

NSU coach Pete Adrian, a WVU alumnus, called the game "a tale of two cities," but the match-up between the Spartans (1-1) and the Big East's Mountaineers (2-0) was hardly a classic.

"We outplayed them in the first half, there's no question about that," Adrian said. "You can sugarcoat it anyway you want - we did. And we got murdered in the second half."



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WV Mountaineers wear down Spartans en route to 55-12 win

MORGANTOWN — It was a tale of two halves. In most instances, it’s a bit of a cliché, not to mention misused, but in the case of No. 19 West Virginia and its battle with Norfolk State Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium, it certainly fits.

The first half was a bumbling mess, where time and time again the Mountaineers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and trailed the FCS Spartans 12-10. It had all the makings of Appy State-Michigan a few years ago.

The second half, the Mountaineers scored on all seven of their possessions and ended up with what was expected all along, a 55-12 drubbing of Norfolk State.

“Obviously, I’m not pleased with first half, but I was pleased with the second half,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who showed no signs that he was pleased about anything. “We are a young football team and inexperienced. I don’t know if we’re trying too hard or if it was a coaching error. Either way, I’m proud of the way we came out in the second half. We got a lot of good snaps, and hopefully, it will make us a better team.”

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Elizabeth City State routs Livingstone for the DEVFC victory

Rocky Mount, NC - Elizabeth City State University came into its game Saturday night expecting to win.

Starting running back Daronte McNeill felt it before the game, and coach Waverly Tillar saw it as the first half progressed. A victory was far from certain when the Vikings walked into the locker room at halftime ahead by only seven points.

Before the second half kicked off, Tillar reminded his team of three things: What they want, why they were there and where they are going.



After three touchdowns in the third quarter and two more in the fourth, the Vikings finally are headed back in the direction they wanted to go with a 49-7 victory against Livingstone College in the 14th annual Down East Viking Football Classic at Rocky Mount Sports Complex.

“Coming in, they probably had the game won already in their minds,” Tillar said. “It wasn’t like that. You have to play one snap at a time, 11 people at a time. You have to play the entire game. At the half, I got their minds straight and told them what to do.”


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B-CU sets beat for Monday Night Football

DAYTONA BEACH -- Are you ready for some national exposure? ESPN's rowdy friends from Bethune-Cookman are.

The university's Marching Wildcats drumline, already familiar with the sports network's spotlight, is slated to open the 2011 season of Monday Night Football tomorrow evening with a thumping, swaggering montage that shook the school's band building Saturday.

"Believe me, the kids don't take it lightly," the band's director, Donovan Wells, said outside. "You don't turn down these opportunities."

The ESPN crew spent more than four hours working Saturday morning, and was considering coming back to film more after the band's regular football show Saturday afternoon. The package still has to be edited and mixed in time for Week 1's 7 p.m. matchup between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.





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