College football: Blue Bears knock rival out of CIAA championship game
Published 7:13 pm Saturday, November 9, 2024
Staff report
SALISBURY — Livingstone College’s football team rode a terrific defensive effort to a 15-10 victory against Johnson C. Smith on Saturday in the latest edition of the long-running Commemorative Classic.
Livingstone and J. C. Smith (known as Biddle Institute then) got HBCU football started back in 1892.
By handing their biggest rival a crushing setback on the blue turf at Alumni Memorial Stadium, the Blue Bears (6-4, 4-3), coached by Sean Gilbert, achieved their first winning season since 2015. Gilbert took the reins in 2020.
J.C. Smith had won its first eight games for the first time in program history but stumbled to the finish line with an ugly shutout loss to Fayetteville State last week, followed by more offensive struggles against the Blue Bears.
J.C. Smith appeared to be well on its way to a berth in the CIAA championship game two weeks ago, with an 8-0 record that included huge victories over contenders Virginia Union and Virginia State, but the Golden Bulls couldn’t finish the job.
Virginia State beat Virginia Union 35-28 on Saturday. That result combined with J.C. Smith’s second loss means that Virginia State and Virginia Union will stage a rematch for the CIAA championship in Salem, Va.
J.C. Smith’s eight victories were the most it’s had since 1975, but that was slim consolation considering the prime position the Golden Bulls were in two weeks ago.
Saturday’s defensive struggle was scoreless after a quarter and was 3-all at halftime.
Livingstone scored the touchdown that made it 9-3 midway through the third quarter, but failed on the PAT.
The Blue Bears scored for a 15-3 lead early in the fourth, but failed on a 2-point conversion.
J.C. Smith didn’t score a touchdown until it hit a pass play with five minutes left in the game.
Livingstone got a clinching interception near the 2-minute mark.
J.C. Smith was ranked in the top 25 nationally as recently as two weeks ago. The season may be 0ver for the Golden Bulls (8-2, 5-2), but there’s a chance they could be named to the field for the Division II playoffs.
