Staff report

SALISBURY — Livingstone surprised Bowie State 31-18 in a CIAA football game on Saturday at Alumni Memorial Stadium.

It was the first win for the Blue Bears (1-4, 1-2) and their first victory against Bowie State since a 36-33 thriller in 2014.

Bowie State came into the game ranked fifth in the HBCU Division II poll, but the Bulldogs (3-2, 2-1) also looked very beatable after a shaky win against St. Augustine’s.

As it turned out, Bowie State was more vulnerable than anyone could have imagined.

QB Amir Jenkins threw for 286 yards, but other than their star QB,  the Bulldogs turned in a discouraging performance with 10 penalties and seven fumbles.

Give the Blue Bears credit for a lot of that misery. Livingstone’s defense forced four fumbles, racked up four sacks and picked off a pass.

Livingstone’s Jaden Echols was in on 12 tackles, forced a fumble and had a sack. Kobe Pringle had two sacks and a forced fumble.

Livingstone quarterback Marcus Drish threw for 224 yards and four touchdowns, three to Davan Deloatch.

Matthew Henry had eight catches for 130 yards.

Ben Coates III, a Georgia Military College transfer and the son of the best known player in Livingstone football history, caught a TD pass in the second quarter.

Drish’s first TD pass to Deloatch put the Blue Bears up 7-0. Bowie State scored to make it 7-6, but missed the PAT.

The TD pass to Coates and a 47-yard field goal by Jason Zapata stretched the Blue Bears’ lead to 17-6 at halftime.

Bowie State scored the only points of the third quarter to get back to 17-12, but Livingstone didn’t fold.

Instead, Drish threw scoring passes of 18 and 29 yards to Deloatch to push the lead to 31-12.

The visitors scored their final TD with three minutes left, but the Blue Bears were in no danger.

Livingstone travels to Winston-Salem State (2-3, 2-1) next Saturday afternoon. The Rams lost 30-27 at Lincoln on Saturday.