By Nick Bowton
nbowton@salisburypost.com
Livingstone quarterback Steve Williams turned toward his coach, Lamonte Massie, in a state of disbelief.
Twelve sacks, coach?Yes, 12 sacks. In one game.
Defending CIAA champion Shaw battered Williams all afternoon at Alumni Stadium and didn’t let up until the final play, pummeling the Blue Bears 55-7 and ending Livingstone’s chance to make the CIAA championship game.
“That’s probably the most pressure this year I’ve witnessed,” said Williams, who finished with negative-97 rushing yards because of the pressure from Shaw’s front seven. “We just got outnumbered up front. They blitzed more than we could block. There wasn’t too much we could do.
“The guys up front blocked their man, but they blitzed extra linebackers we couldn’t block. They came free.”
And never stopped coming.
Shaw jumped offsides on Livingstone’s first play from scrimmage, perhaps a sign the Bears (6-3, 5-1 CIAA) were eager to start a dominant display. The next two plays ended in Livingstone fumbles, and Shaw recovered the seconds of those and turned it into a 39-yard touchdown pass on its first offensive play.
The Blue Bears (3-6, 3-3) surrendered their first sack on the ensuing drive, and Shaw had seven sacks and a 20-0 lead by halftime. At that point, Livingstone had amassed negative-9 yards of total offense.
“You name it, it seemed like we were like, ‘Let’s be challenging in trying to make this work,’ ” Massie said. “We just couldn’t get everything going. It was frustrating because we just didn’t get it clicking.”
Not offensively, at least, and the Blue Bears could stay stout defensively for only so long.
Devonta Harmon and Brandon Rousseau intercepted passes in the first quarter, and Rousseau recovered a second-quarter fumble. Livingstone forced its final turnover on the first play of the second half, and that one finally produced some points.
Robert Massey-Brice intercepted a Travis Robinson pass at the Shaw 30-yard line, broke a tackle near the right sideline and went untouched the final 20 yards to get Livingstone within 20-7.
That touchdown could have given Livingstone some life, but Shaw responded with a seven-play, 50-yard touchdown drive to seal momentum in its favor. The Bears got the ball back again quickly, scored again quickly and led 34-7 midway through the third quarter.
At that point, the Livingstone defense had stopped forcing turnovers and started surrendering yards in big chunks. Shaw finished with 590 yards, 323 in the second half.
“We did some things we can build on, but at the same time we’re programmed to have shutouts,” said Massey-Brice, whose father, Robert Massey, coached Livingstone from 2005-2006 and now is an assistant at Shaw. “So we were so-so. We have some work to do.”
Not as much work as the Blue Bears’ offense, which finished with 33 yards.
Shaw’s 12 sacks tied Tusculum for the second-most by a Division II team in one game. North Dakota set the record in 2001 with 14.
Massie said blocking wasn’t as much of a problem as his receivers not getting into their routes quickly enough, but the Blue Bears still had trouble with 6-foot-3, 315-pound lineman Ellis Louis, who had three sacks. Linebacker Walter Wells added 21/2.
“I just told Coach Boulware we’re not gonna do a whole lot of stunts,” said Shaw coach Darrell Asberry, referring to defensive coordinator Perez Boulware. “We’re physical enough, really, to just overpower some people. Talent-wise, our defense, they’ve been playing great the whole year.
“If we’re gonna win the championship, they’re gonna have to continue to play well.”
Asberry’s Bears certainly played with a championship mentality Saturday, as they scored three touchdowns in a five-minute span in the fourth quarter.
Shaw went ahead 48-7 on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to Deandre Okanji with 6:55 remaining, and it regained possession on an onside kick. Five plays later, backup quarterback Julius Gregory threw a touchdown pass to Charles Rhinehart.
Shaw tried to score one more time in the final minutes, but another touchdown pass was negated by a holding penalty. The late onslaught left Massie obviously unpleased, but Asberry said he was simply preparing his backup quarterback for future action.
“It didn’t surprise me,” Massie said. “They did the same thing last year: seconds, minutes left in the game, onside kick two years in a row. We talked about it all week. We reminded them that these guys are going to do what they think is appropriate for them to be successful on the field, and it’s our responsibility to stop it.
“Would I have done it? No. I try to teach character and class and things like that. But at the same time it’s a lesson learned for our guys.”