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FAMU football: Cash makes immediate impression for Rattlers

KEONTE CASH

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  -- Keonte Cash, the only freshman starter on FAMU’s football team, has been making an impression on coaches long before taking his first rep.

He was just a middle school kid who spent his spare time participating in dramatic plays or tinkering with baseball, when the coaching staff at Miami Jesuit called him to try out for the junior varsity team. Before his freshman season was over, he was promoted to varsity on the offensive line.

He started every game. What he did at Jesuit was so impressive, that his former coach now use his highlight film as a teaching tool.

“He is the best lineman we’ve ever had and I’ve been the head coach for 30 years,” said Richard Stuart. “He is a very smart young man; intelligent.


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XU Gold Nuggets win in 4, will play for tourney championship

TAYLOR REUTHER

HOUSTON — For the Xavier University of Louisiana women's volleyball program, victories after first-set losses have been rare. But that trend has improved lately.
    
The Gold Nuggets defeated Columbia (S.C.) 25-27, 25-20, 25-20, 25-15 on Saturday morning for their third victory in as many matches at the UST Labor Day Tournament. Xavier is 10-73 all-time when losing the first set but has two such victories in the past five matches.
    
Taylor Reuther's sixth-consecutive double-double — 15 kills and 14 digs — Moira Kirk's 11 kills and reserve Claudia Haywood's seven kills and three blocks in two sets helped propel Xavier (5-2) into a 4 p.m. championship match later in the day against Montana Tech, the tournament's other 3-0 team.
    
The Nuggets were a roller coaster in the opening set, turning a 4-1 deficit into a 15-10 lead, then falling behind 21-19 before rallying again for a 25-24 advantage after a CeCe Williams kill. But Columbia prevailed, closing the set with three consecutive kills.
    
Xavier finally found some momentum late in the second set, with Haywood and Kirk collecting three kills apiece to pull the Nuggets out of a 16-14 hole and even the match. An 8-2 run helped Xavier pull away in the third set, and 8-1 and 10-2 runs in the fourth clinched the Nuggets' 21st victory in their last 22 neutral-site matches, a streak which began in 2011.
    
Reuther hit .159, her lowest since the season opener, but also served four aces, the most in a match by an XU player this season. Kirk hit .370, and Haywood — who sat out both Friday matches due to injury — hit a season-best .462 in 13 attempts.
    
Xavier produced 74 digs for the second consecutive match. Jodi Chatters had 20 to reach 60 for the tournament, Franziska Pirkl had 12 and Chinedu Echebelem nine. Pirkl had 32 assists in her second consecutive double-double and fourth of the season.
    
The Nuggets hit .208 — .286 in the final two sets — and served a season-high 10 aces. Echebelem had three aces to equal her career high. Columbia (0-4) served four aces, but only one in the final three sets.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

Nuggets beat Loyola for first time ever, go 2-0 in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas  -- Xavier University of Louisiana beat city rival Loyola in women's volleyball for the first time ever and defeated the host school, St. Thomas, on Friday in the UST Labor Day Tournament.
     
The Gold Nuggets (4-2) defeated Loyola 25-13, 25-16, 25-16 and St. Thomas 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21.

Box scores:  Loyola    St. Thomas
  
Taylor Reuther extended her double-double streak to five with 12 kills and 16 digs against Loyola and 23 kills, a career best, and 14 digs against St. Thomas. Chinedu Echebelem had 10 kills, eight digs and season bests of three aces and a .450 hitting percentage against Loyola and 13 kills, a season high, and seven digs against St. Thomas. Jodi Chatters had 40 digs in the two matches, 23 against St. Thomas. Kerris Crier, playing collegiately in her hometown for the first time, had a career-high-tying nine kills and hit .471 against St. Thomas.
     
"We found some fluidity and continuity in terms of court chemistry," said first-year XU head coach Hannah Lawing, whose team hit better than .300 in both matches. "Our hitters are connecting better with our setters, and our defensive system was better executed than it was last weekend. We kept pressure on our opponents with our serves. Everybody on the bench was ready to go in when we needed them.
     
"Our hitters mixed up their shots really well, finding holes on the other side of the court and making adjustments to each team."
     
Loyola entered the tournament with an 11-0 series advantage against Xavier, including two victories a year ago.
     
"It felt good to win against a traditionally good program," Lawing said. "It was a relief not only to win the match but also to be in control the entire time."
     
The Gold Nuggets never trailed in any of their sets against Loyola and closed the first two sets with 7-1 runs. Consecutive kills by Jodi Hill, Reuther and Moira Kirk ended the match.
     
St. Thomas scored the final four points of the third set to extend the match and led 16-14 in the fourth after overcoming a 9-4 Xavier advantage. But four St. Thomas errors, four Reuther kills and a Darian Harris ace helped the Nuggets escape with their fourth win in their last five matches and their first this season on an opponent's court.
  
Xavier will play Saturday, the second and final day of the tournament, at 10 a.m. against Columbia (S.C.) and 4 p.m. against Montana Tech. Xavier's home opener will start at 1 p.m. on Sept. 14 against Voorhees in the Convocation Center.


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

Victories for XU Rush and Jackson, school record for Fakler

Catherine Fakler

CLINTON, Mississippi — Xavier University of Louisiana scored team and individual men's victories Friday and broke a women's school record in its first cross country meet of the 2013 season, the Mississippi College Opener at Choctaw Trails Course.
    
The Gold Rush scored 54 points to win the men's championship by 14 points over runner-up Mississippi College, and XU junior Kwame Jackson won the 5,000-meter race in 16 minutes, 34 seconds. It was Jackson's second collegiate victory and his first since winning the 2011 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference title on this same course.

Junior Catherine Fakler was third in the women's race, running a school-record 15:34 for 4,000 meters. Teammate Zahri Jackson, who did not compete because of injury, set the previous mark of 16:27.58 two years ago in this same meet. The Gold Nuggets were third in team scoring with 73 points, trailing Blue Mountain (34) and Millsaps (54).
    
Results:  Men    Women

Info for students interested in joining the 2013-14 Gold Star Dance Team.  PDF files:  workshop    auditions

The team championship was the 19th in the modern era of the XU men's program, the 11th in the regular season and the first in a season opener since 2007. Jackson, who led a field of 49 runners, scored the first regular-season victory by a Gold Rush runner since Matt Pieri in 2010.
    
"I told our guys in the huddle just before we started that they needed to win this meet. There was no reason why they shouldn't," said ninth-year XU coach Joseph Moses. "Kwame came out relaxed and confident and was running smooth. When he came out those of woods on the back of the course for that final uphill stretch, he was running by himself."
    
Jackson won by 10 seconds over runner-up Ryan Campbell, a freshman from Mississippi College.
    
Both Gold Rush newcomers finished in the top 10. Sophomore Brent Kitto, running in his first cross country meet since transferring from Louisiana Tech after the 2011 season, placed third in 16:48. Freshman Christopher August was ninth in 17:24.
    
Also finishing for Xavier were David Holobowicz (12th place, 17:40), Charles Shaw (29th, 18:48) and Aaron Yarmush (31st, 18:57). Holobowicz posted his best collegiate time at this distance.
    
Former Belhaven and Carson-Newman runner Hannah Reese, running unattached, was the top female finisher. Blue Mountain's Kelsea Posadas was second.
    
Mississippi College was unable to supply official times for all the women. Xavier's Donyé Coleman was 12th in 17:29, followed by Hannah Finnegan (16th place, 17:54), Reeka Belton (18th, 18:00), Danielle Rogers (29th, 19:17) and Hali Yarmush (30th, 19:19). Coleman's finish was her second highest in a regular-season collegiate meet. Belton and Rogers are freshmen.
    
"Catherine stepped up and ran a good race," Moses said. "It was great to see Donyé, a senior, step up and post a high finish. But I thought our women could've won this meet, too, even though we weren't at full strength. We need to redeem ourselves next week."
    
Both XU teams will compete Sept. 7 — one week from Saturday — in the Loyola Wolf Pack Invitational at Lafreniere Park in Metairie, La., a New Orleans suburb. Both collegiate races will be 5,000 meters, with the women starting at 7:50 a.m. and the men at 8:25. It will be the second of five regular-season meets for Xavier and its only local appearance of 2013.

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

WSSU solid in final scrimmage

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- Winston-Salem State put the finishing touches on preseason camp with a controlled scrimmage Thursday morning.

With a week left before the Sept. 5 opener at UNC Pembroke, Coach Connell Maynor wanted to see his offense and defense against each other once more, and he liked what he saw.

"The biggest thing is we didn’t get anybody hurt,” said Maynor, who sat several starters. “We wanted everybody to get up after every play, and that’s what happened. We looked pretty good, and we moved the ball a little better today.”

With classes in session, the Rams have gone back to 6 a.m. practices — a staple since Maynor arrived in 2010. “We used to practice at 5 a.m.,” one veteran said, “so 6 a.m. is a little better.”

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MEAC SWAC Challenge: Competing Teams Legends

Mississippi Valley State University vs. Florida A&M University
September 1, 2013
11:45 A.M. EST
Orlando, Florida Citrus Bowl/TV: ESPN

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  -- When two historically black colleges and universities meet, whether it is a political science conference, or a sporting event, there is a story behind the story. In the case of the MEAC SWAC Challenge the events leading up to the game and the game itself are of small significance in comparison to what these schools represent.

On the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington I could easily highlight the roles of the Mississippi Valley State University and Florida A&M University in the resistance movement against segregation and oppression. Though this article is about sports history, it nonetheless has ties to the resistance movement. It was author and University of Michigan’s Professor Emeritus Harold Cruse who in “The Crisis of the Intellectual Negro” wrote many years ago about black America’s struggle with self-identity. Thus, it is not just entertaining to learn about black sports history, it is most important to black America in general that we connect with our past legends and heroes born of our own making.

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