Shaw wins first CIAA title since 1947, but left out of playoff field
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Shaw did what it thought it had to do Saturday.
The upstart Bears, only recently returning to gridiron play, completed a remarkable three-year resurrection by knocking off two-time champion Fayetteville State 10-7 in the CIAA's fifth annual Championship Game to take home its first conference title since 1947.
For all practical purposes, the win should have vaulted the 9-2 Bears
into the expanded Div. II playoffs. The win, which avenged an earlier loss to
the Broncos (8-3), could have leap-frogged the Bears, seeded eighth prior to
the game, past fifth-seeded FSU into the top six in the Southeast Region.
It didn't.
When the NCAA Div. II Selection Committee unveiled its 24-team field Sunday, the place most thought would go to Shaw, instead went to Fayetteville State.
Additionally, CIAA member North Carolina Central, who was idle Saturday after completing its season at 8-2 and ranked sixth in the Southeast, also was bumped out of the playoffs by Catawba of the South Atlantic Conference, which jumped from seventh to fifth.
FSU got in as the sixth seed in the region and will play at #3 seed, Carson-Newman (8-2), on Saturday (1 p.m.). The CIAA announced Sunday that Shaw will represent the conference in the Dec. 4 Pioneer Bowl in Mobile, Al.
Fayetteville State head coach Kenny Phillips, who thought his team's chances were slim to make the field, was understandably happy. The Broncos lost to CNU, 40-27, in the 2002 playoffs.
"It's going to be a great experience for us to go and play them and try to improve on some of the things we did against them a couple of years ago," said Phillips.
Shaw head coach Deondri Clark said he was disappointed Sunday when the announcement was made but had put his team's accomplishments into perspective.
"It's unfortunate we didn't make it. but I'm ecstatic that we did our part," said Clark. "We've raised the expectations around here. We're on course. Plenty would love to be in my position now. We're going bowling."
Shaw will likely play Tuskegee, the SIAC runner-up, in the Pioneer Bowl.
Defense and turnovers were the story lines of the Championship Game.
The teams, ranked 1-2 in total defense in Div. II, scored first half touchdowns following fumbles and went into the half tied at 7.
Shaw linebacker Chris Peavy's interception of a Jonathan Autry pass set them up for a 21-yard Chester Charles field goal early in the third quarter that proved to be the game-winner. Damon Harrison's six receptions for 139 yards earned him game honors for Shaw.
"The (CIAA) championship game is not really any criteria when it comes
to the weekly evaluations of regional rankings by the Div. II football committee," said
Committee Chairman David Sharp in a conference call Sunday evening following
the 1:10 p.m. announcement. Sharp is also director of athletics at Ouachita
Baptist University and co-chair of the Southeast Region.
"We look as the game as a game being played but we don't have anything in
the criteria that depicts the fact that it is a championship game," said
Sharp, underscoring the fact that there are not automatic bids to conference
champions in Div. II. "There was also a head-to-head earlier and Fayetteville
State did beat Shaw. So that also played into that selection process."
Sharp also noted that in head-to-head competition, Catawba beat Fayetteville
State (49-21 on Aug. 28) and FSU beat NCCU (17-7 on Oct. 9).
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.