NC Central 38, Bowie State 19

September 24, 2005

(DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA) It didn’t take long to find out which team was better, today, as N.C. Central pounded Bowie State 38-19. With the victory, the Eagles remain perfect at 5-0 (2-0 in the CIAA) while the Bulldogs drop to 4-1 (1-1 in the CIAA). “Our hats are off to Coach Broadway and his staff,” said BSU Head Coach Mike Lynn.

NCCU excited the 5,118 in attendance when Brandon Alston returned an Aaron Moore punt 54 yards for the Eagles first six points of the game. Brandon Gilbert converted the extra point, making the score 7-0 with 11:29 left in the first quarter. The high flying Eagles went up 14-0 a little over two minutes later on a Greg Pruitt 3-yard rushing touchdown. “You can’t get behind early on a team like that,” said Lynn. N.C. Central added another seven points at the 4:32 mark of the first period on a Gilbert 42-yard field goal, increasing the home team lead to 17-0. Bowie State finally put some numbers up on its side of the O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium scoreboard with 3:17 remaining in the first. Lamar Manigo connected with his favorite target Glenn Thomas for a 34-yard touchdown, making the score 17-7 NCCU.

N.C. Central pushed the lead to 24-7 early in the second quarter on a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Charles Futrell and extra point by Gilbert. Bowie State’s Manigo went deep, 70 yards to be exact, to guess who, Mr. Thomas with 3:36 remaining in the first half, cutting the deficit to 24-13. However, the Eagles’ Corey Brown (107 yards on 14 carries) pounded in from two yards out just 31 seconds later, giving N.C. Central a very comfortable 31-13 lead heading into halftime. This touchdown was set up by a 65 yard scamper by Brown one play earlier.

Manigo and Thomas teamed up again for their third TD of the game with 15 seconds left in the third quarter, this time from 16 yards away, making the score 31-19. Manigo and Thomas led the BSU Bulldogs on offense with 176 and 175 yards respectively.

Charles Futrell (9 of 165 for 101 yards) hit Toryeon Hester on a crossing pattern across the middle of BSU’s secondary, putting NCCU’s exclamation point on the contest from 21 yards out. Lynn summed up the game by saying, “We played a heck of a good team … What’s encouraging for us is our guys fought hard for four quarters and didn’t give up.”

Bowie State returns home next weekend to face the defending CIAA Champion Bears of Shaw, a 49-27 winner in Week 5 over Livingstone. Game time in Bulldog Stadium is set for 1:00 p.m.