Livingstone 7, Bowie State 3

September 23, 2006

(CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA) Livingstone College entered the game with a 0-4 record and had nothing to lose. Well, the Blue Bears certainly had reason to celebrate as Livingstone stunned Bowie State 7-3 in the Charlotte City Football Classic. The win snaps an eight game losing streak for Livingstone dating back to (10/1/05), a 27-10 victory over Johnson C. Smith, also in Charlotte.

Bowie State's John Riley scored the only points of the first half, by virtue of a 20-yard field goal with 3:30 left before intermission. The visiting Bulldogs managed 110 yards in total offense in the first half with Nathaniel Queen leading the way with 90 rushing yards. BSU's defense held Livingstone to just six yards in total offense. What hurt the Blue Bears was its minus 20 yards rushing.

Following a Bowie State fumble at the BSU 26 yard line, the Bears' Jason Mitchell capped off a five play, 25-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown toss to Michael Sullivan. Sean Vary added the extra point, shifting the advantage to Livingstone at 7-3 with 7:37 remaining in the third quarter. Livingstone had a chance to increase its lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game. However, Vary's 21-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. "When you lose your field coach in Manigo we just couldn't get on track ... There are some bits and pieces to our puzzle that need to be fixed but we'll get it right," said a dejected BSU Head Coach Mike Lynn.

Talking about a turnaround, Livingstone accounted for 100 yards in total second half offense and held Bowie State to 77 yards total offense in the second half. Penalties hurt Bowie State in the second half as well, as the Bulldogs picked up six, second half penalties for 65 yards.

Junior quarterback Jason Mitchell led Livingstone on offense with 61 passing yards, completing nine of 13. Sullivan caught four passes for 28 yards and Tyrome Baisden netted 50 rushing yards for the Blue Bears.
"The defense played well the whole game. The offense did what we wanted them to do...we protected the ball very well this game", commented Coach Massey on the win.

Bowie State freshmen quarterback Deon Trotter replaced an injured Lamar Manigo and completed only three of 17 passes for 43 yards.

BSU's Larry Dixon hauled in two passes for 25 yards. Dixon would have had more if a second quarter, 62-yard reception and touchdown, had it not been for a 15-yard offensive pass interference penalty.

Livingstone's Stanley Clarke and Alvin Hudson led both teams on defense with 11 total tackles each. BSU's Terrence Stafford led the Bulldogs with seven tackles followed by Miguel Dean with six.

Livingstone College (1-4 / 1-1 CIAA) host Shaw University next Saturday and Bowie State (2-2 / 0-1 CIAA) host North Carolina Central in the 3rd Annual Prince George's Classic on the BSU campus at 2:00 p.m.