Livingstone-St. Augustine’s preview box
Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 7, 2017
LIVINGSTONE (0-5, 0-2 CIAA) at ST. AUGUSTINE’S (1-4, 1-1 CIAA)
George Williams Complex — Raleigh — Today, 1 p.m.
Live stats: www.saintaugfalcons.com
LAST WEEK: Livingstone lost its home opener to Virginia State, 56-18; St. Augustine’s also lost at home, 28-7, to Virginia Union.
COACHES: Livingstone — Daryl Williams’ record is 15-29, in his fifth season. He is a graduate of Tennessee State, where he was All-OVC as a quarterback. St. Augustine’s — Tim Chavous is in his second full season after taking over as interim coach for the last eight games in 2015. His record stands at 4-19. Chavous is a graduate of Bethune-Cookman and has been an assistant coach at Virginia State.
WORTH MENTIONING: Livingstone looks to snap an eight-game losing streak, going back to last year. Maybe a good omen? Today’s game is at Williams Complex and Livingstone has six players with the last name of Williams, as well as the head coach.
SERIES: St. Augustine’s leads, 18-3-3. The last meeting was just last season, a 38-37, two overtime, win by the Falcons. That game was played in Salisbury on a Sunday afternoon, delayed one day by a tropical storm. The Blue Bears won in 2015, 31-7, in Raleigh.
KEY PLAYERS: Livingstone — Sophomore running back Justin Ruffin, of Salisbury, leads the team in rushing with 177 yards and averages 44 yards per game. Ruffin also has eight catches out of the backfield for 68 yards, including a long of 22 yards.
Senior running back Jarius Richardson, who has been nursing an ankle injury, may return this week and that will be a key. The leading rusher for the past two seasons, the hobbled Richardson has just 103 yards so far this year. He has missed two games and parts of the others.
Quarterback Xavier Longerbeam has missed one game with injury but has thrown for 392 yards while completing 60 percent of his passes (46-for-77). He had two TD passes and one interception last week against Virginia State.
Spencer Ludin leads Livingstone’s receiving corps with 16 catches for 127 yards, including five grabs last week. Andrew Gamble is the receiving yardage leader with 193 yards on 13 catches. Four different receivers — Ludin, Gamble, Everett Ransom and Ruben Lawhorn have a touchdown reception.
On defense, safety Jarod Richardson has taken over the tackles lead with 21, including 4.5 for losses. Lineman Armond Cox follows with 19, 5.5 for losses.
Defensive back Elems Ukwu has 15 tackles and leads the team with two interceptions.
“We’re looking forward to a division game,” continued Williams. “All the guys are upbeat. We’ve still got to get some guys healthy, but we’ll be ready and up for the challenge.”
St. Augustine’s — Darryl Johnson is the Falcons’ quarterback, throwing for 863 yards and nine TDs thus far. However, he is completing just 53.5 percent of his passes (68-of-127) and has been picked off three times.
Most think the star on St. Augustine’s offense is big wide receiver Sam Boyd. He is 6-4, 250 pounds and looks like an NFL tight end. Boyd as 20 catches for 221 yards and three scores this season.
The Falcons’ leading receiver is actually Lenwood Joyner, who has 16 grabs for 275 yards and two TDs.
St. Augustine’s leading rusher is Jeremiah Miller, with 311 yards on 66 carries. Miller got 144 of his yards in an 81-9 win over Lincoln. Josh Glisson has 286 yards on the ground.
The Falcons can get after the quarterback. Defensive end Chasz Cosby (6-3, 280) has 5.5 sacks this season, and Darius Goodman (6-0, 230), the other end, has four. Linebacker James Hickman (6-3, 220) leads the team in tackles with 49 stops.
NEXT WEEK: Livingstone travels to Raleigh again, taking on Shaw in a CIAA Southern Division game. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. St. Augustine’s will be home again, hosting Winston-Salem State at 1 p.m.