Lenoir-Rhyne 17, Livingstone 14

August 26, 2006

Hickory, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne College Bears (1-0) kicked off the 2006 campaign with a 17-14 win over the Livingstone College Blue Bears (0-1) Saturday night in front of 6,187 fans at Moretz Stadium. 

The Blue Bears' placekicker, Sean Vary (New Bern, N.C.), missed a 44-yard field goal which would have sent the contest into overtime with six seconds left and the Bears held on to win despite totaling just 172 yards on offense. 

L-R's defense, however, limited Livingstone to 221 yards of offense including 
just 45 yards on the ground and forced the Blue Bears into three turnovers. 

The opportunistic Bears produced 10 points of those Livingstone miscues and sacked the Blue Bears four times. 

A muffed punt early in the second quarter by the Blue Bears gave the Bears the ball on the Livingstone nine-yard line. 

From there, sophomore tailback Matthew Taylor (Jacksonville, N.C./Richlands HS) scored his first collegiate touchdown from two yards out to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 10-0 advantage at the 11:57 mark before half. 

Livingstone closed the gap to 10-7 before intermission when wide-out Michael Sullivan (Simpsonville, S.C.) caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jason Mitchell (Durham, N.C.) with just 76 seconds left in the second quarter. 

After a scoreless third quarter in which the defenses shined, Lenoir-Rhyne pushed the margin back to 17-7 early in the fourth stanza (13:51) on a seven-yard run by sophomore tailback Ronnie Edwards (Union Hall, Va.). The score ended a 12-play, 89-yard drive which 10 of the plays were runs. 

The Blue Bears, however, refused to wilt under pressure and cut the margin to three, at 17-14, on a 41-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Rashaad Flucker (Chesnee, S.C.) from backup quarterback Steven Williams (Stockbridge, Ga.) with 5:12 remaining. 

Livingstone got the ball back with 3:00 minutes left and drove 45 yards to the Lenoir-Rhyne 27-yard line but Vary's field goal was well short and the Bears held on for the win. 

Although L-R passed for just 42 yards, the squad rushed for 130 led by Taylor's 69 yards on eight carries. 
Defensively, senior defensive end Aaron Cotteral (Simpsonville, S.C./Hillcrest HS) led all tacklers with eight including three quarterback sacks. 

Mitchell passed for 89 yards while Williams came off the bench to complete six-of-eight passes for 87 yards for the Blue Bears. 

Each quarterback threw for a score while, defensively, Livingstone's Alvin Hudson (Oviedo, Fla.) tallied eight takedowns. 

Lenoir-Rhyne travels to Durham, N.C., to face North Carolina Central at 4 p.m. on September 9 while Livingstone hosts Elizabeth City State next Saturday at 6 p.m.