SALISBURY — Livingstone has released its 2018 football schedule. Livingstone will play 10 games during the 2018 season, seven on the road and three at home. The schedule features three non-conference games.

The Blue Bears kick off the 2018 season on the road on Aug. 30, in the first of three straight non-conference games.  Livingstone will visit Pikeville (Ky.) for a Thursday night (7:00) kickoff.  It will be the first time that Livingstone and Pikeville, a member of the Mid-South Conference, have met on the gridiron.

Pikeville was 5-6 in 2017, including a 48-7 loss at Carson-Newman.

The second game of the season (Sept. 8) will be in Columbia, S.C., taking on the Hornets of Allen University.   Allen University dropped its football program in 2006, but reinstated it in January of this year. Allen hired Teddy Keaton as head coach in January.

The following week, Livingstone will travel to Jackson, Tenn., to face the Dragons of Lane College on Sept. 15. Lane is a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Dragons were 2-8 last season, winning their first and last games, with an eight-game losing streak in between.

Livingstone, which went 0-10 overall and 0-7 in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association last year, will open conference play for its home opener on Sept. 22 — a CIAA cross-over game in Alumni Memorial Stadium, taking on the Lions of Lincoln University (Pa.) in its annual West End Classic.

The Blue Bears will hit the road again on Sept. 29, to take on the Panthers of Virginia Union, in its second CIAA cross-over game of the season.

The Blue Bears will return home to celebrate Homecoming, on Oct. 6, hosting the Falcons of Saint Augustine’s University. The next week, Oct. 13, the Blue Bears host Shaw, closing out its home schedule. The Shaw game will be Senior Day for the Blue Bears.

Livingstone will be on the road for three straight CIAA Southern Division games to close the regular season. LC will visit Winston-Salem State on Oct. 20, and Fayetteville State on Oct. 27.

The final regular season game is slated for Nov. 3, with the Blue Bears traveling to Charlotte for the The Commemorative Classic against Johnson C. Smith. The game commemorates Livingstone and JCSU being the first two black college football teams to play an organized game, when they met on Livingstone’s front lawn on Dec. 27, 1892.

On Nov. 10, the CIAA Southern and Northern division winners will compete for the league title. The time and location for the game will be determined by conference officials.

Livingstone coach Daryl Williams said that spring practice began on Monday, but the majority of the team’s work will come after the upcoming Easter break. Williams added that the Blue Bears’ spring game will be held on April 21.

Williams said that Pikeville, Allen and Lane are all scheduled to return the home game to Livingstone in 2019. That means that the Blue Bears will have a probable seven home games during that season.

2018 LIVINGSTONE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE (Locations are subject to change and game time will be announced at a later date).

Date             Opponent                                                   Time
Aug. 30       at Pikeville (Ky.)                                        7 p.m.
Sept. 8        at Allen (Columbia, S.C.)                           TBA
Sept. 15       at Lane (Jackson, Tenn.)                           TBA
Sept. 22      LINCOLN (Pa.) (West End Classic)         TBA
Sept. 29      at Virginia Union (Richmond)                  TBA
Oct. 6          ST. AUGUSTINE’S (HC)                            TBA
Oct. 13        SHAW                                                             TBA
Oct. 20       at Winston-Salem State                               TBA
Oct. 27       at Fayetteville State                                       TBA
Nov. 3        at J.C. Smith (Commemorative Classic)   TBA