By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
Delric Ellington used to visit Shuford Stadium to watch his brother, Ron, play havoc with opponents as a defensive terror.
Now, little brother wants to create havoc of his own against his older brother’s team.
Ellington is a redshirt junior wide receiver for Wingate (3-1, 5-2), who lines up against Catawba today for an important South Atlantic Conference contest.
“He’s their leading receiver,” Catawba coach Chip Hester said with a smile. “It’s going to be tough to see him in the other blue and white.”
Catawba finally tasted victory in the SAC for the first time last week and Hester hopes the momentum continues in Shuford Stadium.
It won’t be easy for the Indians (1-3, 4-3), who play host to the second-place Bulldogs.
–
Livingstone has no momentum at all. The Blue Bears are 0-8 overall and 0-5 in the CIAA and no one expects them to break through against a talented Shaw (6-2, 3-2).
The game will be played at Millbrook High School today with a starting time of 4 p.m.
–
At Catawba, Hester knows his defense will be tested.
“Offensively, Wingate is probably the most balanced team we’ve played,” he said. “They throw it and run it very efficiently. They had an all-conference running back last year that’s a backup now. They have a big offensive line and they do a good job of running behind it.”
Catawba split a two-game road trip, falling by 10 to Carson-Newman and winning by 14 at Tusculum.
“They were two very competitive games,” Hester said. “Hopefully, we’ll respond well. We haven’t played the way we want to at home.”
There are plenty of familiar faces on the Wingate squad, including senior punter Phillip Hilliard (Salisbury), redshirt sophomore lineman Austin Lowe (West Rowan), sophomore defensive lineman Josh Patch (East Rowan), redshirt freshman lineman Joe So (Salisbury), redshirt freshman linebacker Robert Kepley (West Rowan), freshman receiver Colby Reid (A.L. Brown) and freshman defensive back Josh Moss (A.L. Brown.)
–
This is the second straight week Livingstone is going to Raleigh. Last week, the Blue Bears fell 31-7 to Saint Augustine’s.
The series with Shaw dates back to 1901 and Livingstone actually leads 13-11-5. But it hasn’t beaten the Bears since 1978.