Linebacker blazes a Trail at NSU

NORFOLK, Virginia  -- As he walks between an on-campus radio gig in the morning and a film session in the afternoon, Lynden Trail is greeted by casual acquaintances and strangers alike.

"Hey, Trail," his fellow Norfolk State students will say as they dish out dap in passing.

"What's up?" Trail, dressed in a carefully coordinated red-and-black outfit, replies before confiding, steps later, "I don't even know that dude."

Such is life for the Big Man On Campus. And, literally and figuratively, they don't get much bigger at NSU.

Trail, a 6-foot-7, 265-pound outside linebacker with the mobility and athleticism of a much smaller player, is a Spartans A-lister.

On campus, Trail is hard to miss. He stands a head or two taller than most of his peers, even on the football field, and his preseason mohawk of NSU gold has faded to take on an attention-grabbing orange-ish hue.

CONTINUE READING

Hampton falters in key spots during 21-13 loss to Norfolk State

HAMPTON, Virginia — To the Hampton players who were steamed at watching victorious Norfolk State Spartans celebrating on the midfield painted 'H' logo at Armstrong Stadium on Saturday, Pirates coach Connell Maynor had a simple reply:

Too late to complain about that now.

"Guys got mad, said they were disrespecting the 'H'," Maynor said after the Spartans prevailed 21-13 in the 52nd annual "Battle of the Bay." "We had 60 minutes to beat them so they couldn't disrespect the 'H'. So that's on us. If we beat them they can't disrespect the 'H'. We didn't, so hat's off to them."

The Pirates (1-6, 0-3 MEAC) were stung early by a surprisingly potent Norfolk State passing attack. The Spartans (3-5, 3-1), who came in ranked 120th of 121 FBS teams in total offense, singed Hampton for 335 passing yards — 25 more than they'd amassed through the air in their previous three games combined.

CONTINUE READING

Xavier Rush, Nuggets win 9th straight; Jackson earns 3rd title

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana won the men's and women's team titles for the ninth consecutive year, and XU senior Kwame Jackson set a record with his third individual title at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday at City Park.

The Gold Nuggets had six of the eight fastest women and scored 21 points to win their championship by 21. The Gold Rush had a much closer battle with Edward Waters, outscoring the Tigers 36-43 in the closest men's team finish since 2006.

Jackson, however, never was seriously challenged. He ran the 8,000-meter men's course in 29 minutes, 3.16 seconds and won by nearly 42 seconds over the runner-up, sophomore teammate Christopher August.

"Becoming a three-time champion is exciting," Jackson said. "To be able to stay healthy and compete at a high level consistently for four years has been a blessing, and I am very thankful for that."

Jackson repeated as GCAC champion and won for the third time this season and the sixth time in his career.

"I have never been this busy in my life," Jackson said. "I'm enrolled in 18 credit hours, I participate in on-campus research, and I'm applying for graduate school. So I am very pleased with my season and career at Xavier."

August finished in 29:44.63. Xavier's Brent Kitto placed fifth in 30.52.20, and Emmanuel Detiege was ninth in 32:33.99. The top 10 male and female finishers received All-GCAC recognition.

It was the sixth straight year that Xavier produced the GCAC individual men's champion, but the Gold Rush bid for a sixth consecutive 1-2-3 men's individual finish ended when Shane Harlow of Edward Waters placed third.

Edward Waters freshman Joy Miller rallied past XU junior Hannah Finnegan in the final 300 yards to win the women's individual title. Miller ran the 5K in 21:10.78, and Finnegan was second in 21:13.13.

Joining Finnegan on the All-GCAC team were teammates Ashley Flournoy (third place, 21:34.25), Hali Yarmush (fourth 21:44.35), Carlie Calais (fifth, 21:52.26), Briana Simms (seventh, 21:59.46) and Reeka Belton (eighth, 22:07.11). Yarmush was all-conference for the fourth time.

Miller won in the absence of XU senior Catherine Fakler, who was injured and did not compete. Fakler beat Miller by more than a minute in the season opener at City Park and won the 2013 GCAC title by more than 90 seconds.

Xavier's Joseph Moses was voted GCAC Coach of the Year for the ninth consecutive time on the men's side and the sixth straight season and the eighth time in nine years on the women's.

Both XU teams qualified automatically for the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 22 at Lawrence, Kan., and the top five men and women not on the winning teams also qualified. It will be the fifth time in seven years that the Gold Nuggets and Gold Rush qualified for nationals as a team.

Results:  Men    Women
Facebook photos

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

XULAATHLETICS 

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

https://twitter.com/xulagold

ttps://www.facebook.com/xulagold 

XU Nuggets beat Tougaloo, extend GCAC win streak to 51

NEW ORLEANS — Five Xavier University of Louisiana players, including Senior Day honoree Chinedu Echebelem, led the Gold Nuggets to a 25-11, 25-13, 25-16 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference women's volleyball victory against Tougaloo on Saturday.

Xavier (12-4, 8-0) has won 51 consecutive matches against GCAC opponents, 42 in the regular season. Tougaloo is 7-14, 3-6.

Echebelem, an outside hitter from Dallas honored in a ceremony between the second and third sets, hit .316 with nine kills and seven digs. Claudia Haywood hit .619 with 14 kills, and CeCe Williams hit .370 with 12 kills.

Franziska Pirkl had match highs of 39 assists and eight digs for Xavier, and freshman Kayla Jones served a career-best five aces.

Xavier limited Tougaloo's leading attacker, freshman Chassidy Harris, to four kills and a .118 hitting percentage.

Jones served four aces in the first set, three during a 7-0 run which gave Xavier a 22-9 lead. Haywood had three kills during an 8-0 second-set run which gave the Nuggets a 14-7 lead, and Haywood and Williams had two kills apiece during an 11-1 third-set run to give Xavier a 15-7 lead.

Echebelem, the second four-year player in the program's history, raised her career totals to 852 kills and 886 digs.

Xavier hit .316 — its second-highest percentage of the season — and limited Tougaloo to .056. The Nuggets had advantages of 44-19 in kills, 8-1 in aces and 35-31 in digs.

Xavier completed a two-match regular-season sweep of the Lady Bulldogs and leads the series 10-0.

The Gold Nuggets will play six of their next seven on the road, beginning with a 6 p.m. Monday match at GCAC member Talladega. The next home match will start at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 against SUNO.

NOTES: Haywood is hitting .440 in conference matches this season, .519 against Tougaloo . . . Jones became the fifth XU player to reach 100 digs this season . . . XU walk-on freshmen Simone White and Aliyah Wilson played for the first time this season . . . Since the start of the 2011 season, the Gold Nuggets are 83-27.

Box Score
Facebook photos

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

XULAATHLETICS

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

https://twitter.com/xulagold

ttps://www.facebook.com/xulagold 

ASU spoils Morehouse’s homecoming

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Morehouse students and alumni were partying all throughout the campus, but it was Albany State who had the bigger celebration on the field.

The Rams had their way on the gridiron against their in-state and SIAC rivals, spoiling Morehouse’s homecoming with a 31-14 victory. With the win, the Rams improve to 4-2 and maintain their first-place standing in the SIAC East Division with a 4-0 conference mark.

“I’m happy with the win,” ASU coach Mike White said. “Overall, I thought the team played hard. All the games in the East are big. Next week is Clark Atlanta and the week after that, Benedict. We have to mow them down one at a time.”

The Rams led wire-to-wire, posting a 21-0 lead before Morehouse recorded its first touchdown.

CONTINUE READING

TU Golden Tigers seize control of SIAC West

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – The duel to determine the top team in the SIAC West was anything but wild. Tuskegee all but disarmed Stillman, in fact, in a 61-19 rout.

Tuskegee scored on its first four possessions in improving to 5-2 overall and 4-0 in conference.

Hoderick Lowe touchdown runs from 3 and 4 yards out put the Golden Tigers in command early. Kevin Lacy hit Travis Hawkins from 27 yards out for Tuskegee's third touchdown of the opening quarter.

Lacey finished 9-of-15 passing for 188 yards and two scores, while Justin Nared went 4-of-7 for 24 yards. Marquel Gardner totaled 71-yards on four receptions. Brooks rushed for 81 yards on 11 carries, while Lowe accumulated 64 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns, his third score coming from 17 yards out in the second quarter.

CONTINUE READING

Week 8: HBCU Football ScoreCard

ALWAYS WATCH IN 1080p HD, WIDE SCREEN

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2014

OVC
UT Martin 21, Tennessee State 16

MEAC
Norfolk State 21,  Hampton 13  Watch Replay 
Florida A&M 31, Howard 28
Morgan State 21, North Carolina Central 20
North Carolina A&T 33,  Delaware State 20
Bethune-Cookman 48, Savannah State 20

SWAC
Grambling State 63, Arkansas Pine Bluff 39
Alcorn State 40, Texas Southern 25
Prairie View A&M 52, Mississippi Valley State 19

OTHER CONFERENCES
Charleston (WV) 28, West Virginia State 10  THURSDAY
Lock Haven 28, Cheyney 0
Central State (Ohio) 31. Concordia-Selma 6
Lincoln (Mo.) 62, Texas College 6
Langston 38, Wayland Baptist 7

SIAC
Tuskegee 61, Stillman 19
Miles 18, Kentucky State 13
Central State (Ohio) 31, Concordia-Selma 6
Albany State 31, Morehouse 14
Benedict 20,  Clark Atlanta 10
Paine 38, Edward Waters 14
Fort Valley State 24, Limestone 19

CIAA
Elizabeth City State 27, Lincoln (Pa.) 26
Livingstone 21, Shaw 20
Winston-Salem State 36, Saint Augustine's 13
Virginia State 24, Bowie State 14
Fayetteville State 34, Johnson C. Smith 14
Virginia Union 40, Chowan 29