Florida Classic skips a beat without FAMU's famous marching band

ORLANDO, Florida - The absence of FAMU's famous marching band had a bigger impact on Saturday's Florida Classic football game than many had expected.

Even before fans stepped into the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, they knew the crowd would be small. Parking — compared to previous years at least — was a breeze.

One glance at the stands and it was obvious that half the crowd had skipped this year's game, likely because FAMU's Marching 100, suspended because of a hazing that killed drum major Robert Champion last fall, would not be performing. The high-energy battle between the Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University bands at halftime is the Classic's main attraction.

But the missing band hurt more than just attendance, the tally for which came in at 32,317 people — about half the 60,218 fans who came to Orlando last November for what has been the nation's largest football game between two historically black colleges.

The game wasn't as lively, alumni and others said. When Bethune-Cookman's team scored a touchdown, the Marching Wildcats energized the crowd with music. But FAMU had no band to root for it.



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Week 12, HBCU Scorecard

OVC
Tennessee-Martin 35, Tennessee State University 26

MEAC
Bethune-Cookman 21, Florida A&M 16  (Florida Classic)
North Carolina A&T 22, North Carolina Central 16
Hampton 27, Morgan State 17
Howard 41, Delaware State 34
South Carolina State 27, Savannah State 13

SWAC
Auburn 51, Alabama A&M 7
Mississippi Valley State 34, Texas Southern 3
Jackson State 37, Alcorn State 11
Arkansas - Pine Bluff 42, Prairie View A&M  41

OTHER
Kentucky State 17, Central State (Ohio) 6
Edward Waters 24, Virginia University of Lynchburg  21 (Homecoming)

NCAA Division II Playoffs
Lenoir-Rhyne 21, Fort Valley State 6
West Alabama 41, Miles College 7

NCCU Eagles’ turnovers seal win by NCA&T Aggies

DURHAM — N.C. Central fumbled six times and lost three of those during Saturday’s game against rival N.C. A&T, and the Aggies took advantage with a 22-16 overtime win at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium.

A&T had the first possession in the extra session and scored on a 5-yard run by Mike Mayhew.

The Aggies missed the extra point, leaving NCCU with a chance to seal the win with a touchdown and point-after kick.

But the carelessness with the ball that cursed the Eagles resurfaced on third and 1.

NCCU reserve center Zachary Giles, who played at Hillside, snapped the ball over the head of quarterback Jordan Reid. NCCU running back Arthur Goforth recovered the ball on the Eagles’ 42.

On fourth down, Reid’s pass to Decona Roberts fell incomplete to end the game, crushing Goforth’s spirit.

“Last time touching the field,” Goforth said. “I’m going to miss it.”




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Georgetown eliminates XU Nuggets in NAIA opening round

GEORGETOWN, Kentucky — Allyson Wilbourn had 18 kills Saturday to lead Georgetown (Ky.) to 23-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-20 victory against Xavier University of Louisiana in the 2012 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Opening Round.

The Tigers (34-4), ranked 13th, will advance to the NAIA National Championship Final Site at Sioux City, Iowa, Nov. 27-Dec. 1. Xavier, in its fifth year of intercollegiate volleyball, finished 22-8 and lost in the opening round for the second consecutive season.

Wilbourn, who hit .545 with no errors in 33 attacks, was one of three Tigers with double-figure kills. Caraline Maher had 14, and Kathryn Smith had 11 with a .474 hitting percentage.

Taylor Reuther had 13 kills, two aces, eight digs and three assists for Xavier. Chinedu Echebelem had eight kills, eight digs and two blocks, and Moira Kirk had seven kills, five blocks and a career-high-tying nine digs. Patrice Smith and Claudia Haywood had six kills apiece. Franziska Pirkl had 38 assists and 14 digs, and Jodi Chatters had 12 digs.

Georgetown outhit Xavier .333 to .137 — .390 to .131 in the final three sets — and had advantages of 64-46 in kills and 74-62 in digs.

Reuther, Echebelem, Smith and Haywood each had kills during a 10-4 run which gave the Gold Nuggets a 19-13 first-set lead. Smith ended the set with a kill.

Georgetown improved to 16-1 at home this season and ended the Nuggets' six-match win streak. It was the third time in 43 matches since the start of 2011 that Xavier lost after winning the first set.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

UAPB Golden Lions Hold-Off PV Panthers

PINE BLUFF, Arkansas  --  Pine Bluff, AR- It was senior day for the Golden Lion football team, as they hosted the Panthers of Prairie View A&M University. This was also the day head coach Monte Coleman received his first SWAC Western Division trophy as a head coach.

Spirits were high as the Golden Lions struck first when senior Quarterback William Dunn found Ladarius Eckwood on a five yard touchdown pass four minutes into the ballgame. Then the track meet began.

Prairie View would answer right back Courtney Brown found the end zone from five yards out to cap a nine play, 55 yard drive.

The Golden Lions would score two more touchdowns in the first quarter, first on a seven yard jaunt by Justin Billings; then Ben Anderson would find Desmond Beverly on 24 yard pitch and catch to close out the first quarter 21-7.

But the Panthers would not be out done, as they marched 55 yards on 10 plays to find glory one more time, but the extra point was missed by Chris Barrick; that would prove to be costly later on in the ballgame.




Anderson would find Beverly once again, this time on 10 yard touchdown reception to push the score to 28- 13, in favor of the Golden Lions. Prairie View would answer back with two scores to pull within one. But Anderson would strike again, this time he found Alton Taylor on a five yard swing pass to go up 35-27 just before the half.

The Panthers came out of the half on their opening possession and drive 62 yards to make it a 35-34 ballgame. Anderson would score on a 19 yard run late in the third quarter to give UAPB a 42-34 lead.

Prairie View would find the end zone one more time to give the ball game its final score 42-41.

Defensively, the Golden Lions were led by senior linebacker Bill Ross who had 12 tackles, five solo and seven assisted. The Golden Lions had three others players with double-digit tackles as well. Xavier Lofton had 11, Ryan Shaw and Jarvis Webb each had 10, respectively. Buck Buchanan Award nominee, Brandon Thurmond, had another sack on the day brining his NCAA leading total to 16.5.

The Golden Lions will have a small break for the Thanksgiving holiday, then it's back to work as they prepare to face the Tigers of Jackson State in the SWAC championship game on December, 8^th, at historic Legion Field in Birmingham, AL. Kick-off is set for 12:00 pm.

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

Fakler leads Xavier at NAIA National Championships

Catherine Fakler

VANCOUVER, Washington  -- Catherine Fakler ran 5,000 meters in 20 minutes, 12 seconds Saturday to record Xavier University of Louisiana's fastest time ever at the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championships.

Fakler, a sophomore, placed 191st out of 320 runners and set XU women's records at nationals for highest finish and most runners beaten. Her time is the 21st fastest in XU women's history.

Freshman David Holobowicz was Xavier's top finisher in the men's race. He ran 8,000 meters in 28:21 to place 275th out of 309 runners.

Xavier finished 31st out of 32 women's teams and 31st out of 31 men's teams. This was the fourth appearance at nationals in five years for both the Gold Nuggets and the Gold Rush.

Xavier's other finishers in the women's race were Hali Yarmush (249th, 20:53), Zahri Jackson (286th, 21:43), Hannah Finnegan (289th, 21:45), Donyé Coleman (302nd, 22:16) and Briana Simms (316th, 22:50). The other XU men's finishers were Kwame Jackson (287th, 28:42), Aaron Yarmush (288th, 28:43), Emmanuel Detiege (304th, career-best 30:04) and Javon Mead (307th, 30:42).

XU's Matt Pieri, a two-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference individual champion, was injured and did not compete.

British Columbia scored 98 points to end the three-year reign of Cal State San Marcos as women's team champion. College of Idaho's Hillary Holt was the individual champion in 17:00, 20 seconds faster than runner-up Sharon Ronoh of Lindsey Wilson. St. Francis (Ill.) won the men's team championship with 138 points, and John Gilbertson of The Master's was the fastest male in 23:56, 10 seconds better than second-place Greg Montgomery of College of Idaho.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS

FAMU has long history of sports championship

For most of the years that FAMU has participated in college athletics, its teams have brought home championships on the regional and national level.

Arguably the biggest victories came in football, including a stunning win over the University of Miami and winning the first NCAA Division I-AA championship.

But FAMU has countless trophies and hundreds of athletes who have taken home championship rings in other sports.

There might be enough to fill a book, but here are some of the highlights that illustrate just how well the Rattlers have done in bringing winning teams to The Hill:

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