Staff report

CHARLOTTE — A crowd of 3,333 watched Johnson C. Smith beat Livingstone 38-17 on Saturday in the latest edition of the Commemorative Classic.

Livingstone (4-6, 4-4) closed the books on the 2023 season with a loss at Irwin Belk Stadium, despite doing a lot of things right. The Blue Bears piled up yardage on offense (393), shut down J.C. Smith’s running attack, didn’t allow a sack and picked off two passes.

But the Golden Bulls (7-3, 6-2) won the game through the air with QB Jemare Cherry passing for 254 yards. They pulled away from the Blue Bears with a dominant fourth quarter.

Marcus Drish threw for 169 yards for the Blue Bears.

J.C. Smith scored first on defense, with Daryl Taybron returning a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown.

Livingstone came back to take a 10-7 lead with an 85-yard drive and Jason Zapata’s 43-yard field goal.

The Golden Bulls responded with a tying field goal and took a 17-10 lead to the break on Cherry’s 13-yard touchdown run 19 seconds before halftime.

Drish hit Ronja Delaney for a 54-yard touchdown, and Zapata’s PAT tied the game at 17-all early in the third quarter, but  it was all Golden Bulls after that.

J.C. Smith put together three unanswered scoring drives down the stretch to break it open. Cherry had touchdown passes for two of those scores.

LC back JyMikaah Wells (Salisbury) was held to 19 yards on nine carries.

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Virginia Union beat Virginia State 30-20 in the big game of the day in the CIAA.

Jabril Norman (Salisbury) had a great game for Virginia Union with 12 tackles, including a sack.

Virginia Union will play Fayetteville State for the CIAA championship in Salem, Va., next week.