NCCU Football Blanks Saint Augustine’s 72-0 in Season Opener
| N.C. Central | 72 |
| St. Augustine’s | 0 |
DURHAM, N.C. – Victory was achieved in O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium as the North Carolina Central University football team earned its first home triumph against the Saint Augustine’s University Falcons, with a shutout score of 72-0.
The Eagles meant business after the opening kickoff to the Falcons. NCCU’s 72 points on Saturday ranks second all-time in school history since the Eagles laced them up in 1923. The school record is 85 points, scored in a shutout over Fort Jackson on Sept. 21, 1946.
NCCU junior corne
rback Mike Jones broke the school record for punt return yards in a game with 145. The record was originally set on Sept. 27, 1969, by Moses Bryant against Livingstone College.
Quarterback Malcolm Bell was proficient on the air attack for the Eagles, completing 13-of-20 passes and throwing for 163 yards. The defensive leader in Saturday’s showdown was R
eggieHunter, accumulating seven tackles for the Eagles.
An early sack by defensive tackle Josh Wade on third down forced St. Augustine’s to punt. The NCCU defense blocked the kick, and C.J. Moore was the on the victorious end of a hard-fought recovery in the end zone.
NCCU was only warming up, with a 7-0 lead and 12:41 on the clock in the first quarter.
Read more at
www.NCCUEaglePride.com.
Aggies Topple Shaw in Season Opener
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Not much changed between 1963 and 2015. After a 52-year absence in the football series between former CIAA rivals North Carolina A&T State and Shaw, the Aggies eased to a 61-7 win over the Bears. In their previous meeting five decades ago the Aggies were 69-0 winners.
Junior Denzel Keyes led the Aggies with a career-high six receptions for 119 yards and two touchdowns. Keyes has seven touchdown receptions in his last
five games played. Junior running back Tarik Cohen added 106 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. It was his 13th career 100-yard game.
In his first career start, redshirt freshman Lamar Raynard threw for 188 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on 14-for-27 passing.
Cohen started the scoring on Saturday by scoring on a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter after the Aggies converted a 4th-and-5 thanks to a roll out completion from Raynard to Caleb Gabriel. The Aggies pulled away from Shaw in the second quarter as Cohen scored on a 7-yard run set up by his 24-yard run on the drive.
Read more at
www.NCATAggies.com.
Watford, Mixon Shine in Season-Opening Win
| Hampton | 35 |
| Kentucky State | 20 |
HAMPTON, Va. – David Watford and Twarn Mixson provided most of the offense for the Hampton University football team on Saturday evening at Armstrong Stadium, leading the Pirates to a 35-20 win over Kentucky State.
Watford completed 22 of 37 passes for 345 yards and five touchdowns in his Pirates debut – and four of those touchdown passes went to Mixson, who also caught a team-high seven passes for a career-high 135 yards.
Rashawn Proctor caught five passes for 77 yards.
Watford’s performance marked the second time in the last three games, dating back to last season, that a Pirates quarterback had five touchdown passes in a game (Jerrell Antoine vs. Bethune-Cookman last season).
His 345 passing yards are the ninth-most in a single game in program history.
The Pirates (1-0) won their first season opener since 2011, when they defeated Alabama A&M 21-20 in Chicago, Ill.
After Kentucky State missed a 45-yard field goal on the game’s opening drive, the kick falling short, the Pirates took over and went 72 yards in six plays before Watford hit Mixson for a 15-yard score with 10:39 left in the first quarter.
Read the full story at
www.HamptonPirates.com.
Hornets Fall to Nationally-Ranked Liberty in Season Opener
| Delaware State | 13 |
| Liberty | 32 |
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Delaware State opened a new football era with a frustrating 32-13 loss to nationally-ranked Liberty before an enthusiastic crowd 18,803 in the season opener for both teams at Williams Stadium this evening.
The contest against the FCS No. 15 Flames marked the debut of new Hornet head coach Kenny Carter, who saw hopeful signs in the loss.
Desmond Rice rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns and Darrin Peterson had eight catches for 83 yards and two scores to lead Liberty’s 417-yard attack. Quarterback Josh Woodrum completed 19-of-32 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns for the Flames.
Delaware State quarterback Esayah Obado connected on 16-of-27 passes for 227 yards but was intercepted twice in his first game since 2013. Obado was sacked five times in the contest, including one that resulted in a safety.
Read the complete story at
www.DSUHornets.com.
Bison Shut Out in Season Opener at Appalachian State
| Howard | 0 |
| Appalachian State | 49 |
BOONE, NC---Taylor Lamb three for three first half touchdowns and Marcus Cox rushed for over 100 yards to lead Appalachian State to a 49-0 shutout over Howard University in the season opener at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Bison (0-1) played competitively early but missed som
e chances to establish themselves. From there, the Mountaineers (1-0) found their rhythm, using its running game and big plays in the passing game to put the game away early.
ASU got on the board on its first possession when Lamb engineered a 14-play, 76-yard drive that was culminated by a 5-yard toss Barrett Burns at the 5:47 mark of the first quarter.
Howard, with red-shirt freshman quarterback Kalen Johnson under center for the first time in his career, failed to move the ball, giving it right back to the Mountaineers.
It took them only five plays to go 85 yards as Marcus Cox broke free and outraced the Bison defenders 68 yards for the score, making it 14-0 with a little less than two minutes left in the quarter.
Read more at
www.HUBison.com.
Rutgers Pulls Away from NSU in 2nd Half
| Rutgers | 63 |
| Norfolk State | 13 |
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Chris Laviano found Leonte Carroo on three touchdown passes in Rutgers' 28-point third quarter that broke open a tight game, sending the Scarlet Knights to a 63-13 win over Norfolk State in the season-opener for both teams on Saturday at High Point Solutions Stadium.
The Spartans (0-1) scored on a pair of first-half touchdown passes from Greg Hankerson Jr. and trailed just 21-13 at the half in Latrell
Scott's NSU coaching debut. But the Scarlet Knights' Janarion Grant returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown, and Laviano threw TD passes of 55, 56 and 18 yards to Carroo as Rutgers pulled away.
The Spartans failed to get on the board in their three previous trips to Rutgers, but wasted little time in doing so on Saturday. NSU took the opening kickoff and march
ed 75 yards in five plays, with Hankerson connecting with DeAndre Sangster on three straight pass plays. The third of those was a 16-yard TD pass that gave NSU a 7-0 lead.
The Scarlet Knights responded wi
th an eight-play, 65-yard drive to tie the game. Hayden Rettig threw a 13-yard TD pass to Matt Flanagan to cap the drive with 9:00 left in the opening quarter, knotting the score.
Rutgers scored two touchdowns in a span of just more th
an three minutes of the second quarter. Rettig scored on a 5-yard run on a 4th-and-1 play with 7:37 left in the second quarter to finish a 60-yard drive. A sack backed NSU up deep into its own end on the ensuing drive, and a short punt set the Scarlet Knights up the Spartans' 32. Two plays later, Josh Hicks scored on a 25-yard run with 4:20 remaining in the half for a 21-7 Rutgers lead.
Read more at
www.NSUSpartans.com.
Additional recaps to come:
Bethune-Cookman 0 v. Miami 45
Morgan State 7 v. Air Force 63
Savannah State 13 v. Colorado State 65
Florida A&M 3 v. South Florida 51
