North Carolina Central 14, Livingstone 10

A sold out crowd of 10,417 held its breath as Blue Bear running back Patrick Pope dove over a pile from the NCCU 1-yard line. When the official spotted the ball shy of the end zone, a Livingstone player lost his cool and was flagged for a 15-yard personal foul penalty. After consecutive incomplete passes on second and third downs, Joel Ward's fourth down pass to Antoine Smith was broken up by Eagle defensive backs Luis George and Chris Everett to preserve the win.

Livingstone (2-7, 1-5 CIAA) out-gained NCCU (4-5, 2-4 CIAA) in total offense 290 to 273, but the difference was 12 Blue Bear penalties for 112 yards.

NCCU sophomore Sean Williams, who moved from his starting wide receiver position to quarterback replacing an injured Lawrence Fuller late in the first quarter, sparked the Eagles by completing 6-for-15 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Ward, the league's leading passer, topped Livingstone with 209 yards of total offense, including 193 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-33 passing.

Things did not start out well for NCCU. Forced to punt on their first possession, the snap sailed over punter Gerald Matkins' head to the Eagle 2-yard line, where the rookie punter wisely booted the pigskin out of the back of the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 Livingstone lead at 10:13 of the first stanza.

On NCCU's next possession, facing fourth down and nine, the snap from center again sailed beyond Matkins' reach and out of the end zone for another safety and an odd 4-0 score with 7:42 left on the first quarter clock.

The momentum swung in the home team's favor when Williams took over the offense. Five plays after moving under center, Williams ran for a 20-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 7-4 lead with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.

After a stalemate for most of the second quarter, Williams found James Taylor in the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown with just 12 ticks before halftime for a 14-4 NCCU advantage at intermission.

In the middle of the third quarter, Ward connected with Leander Webb for a 21-yard touchdown strike to pull Livingstone within striking distance at 6:12. The extra-point kick by Ibrahim Bah was blocked, which later eliminated the Blue Bears' option to force overtime by attempting a game-tying field goal.

Several defenders made big plays for the Eagles. Sophomore defensive end Scheldon Connor accounted for six tackles, including a sack, a forced fumble and a pass break-up. Leland Paul topped NCCU with seven takedowns, including a bone-crushing hit that made the Homecoming crowd say, "Ooohhh." Senior Chris Everett tallied two tackles, a forced fumble, a pass break-up and his first interception of the season.

Livingstone linebackers Omar Middleton and Jason Ocean were all over the gridiron, amassing 14 and 13 tackles, respectively.

NCCU junior running back Donnie Pippen, in his first action after missing two games, ran for a team-high 90 yards on 16 carries (5.6 avg.) to lead the Eagle ground game, which would have recorded 220 yards rushing if not for 62 yards lost due to the errant snaps from center on punting situations.

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