CIAA Football Week in Review
For the week ending October 6, 2007 (Week
7)
PANTHERS RUN TO 30-17 WIN OVER GOLDEN BULLS
October 7, 2007
CHARLOTTE, NC- 25th ranked Virginia Union rolled up a season-high 404 rushing yards as the Panthers improved to 6-0 with a 30-17 win over Johnson C. Smith last night in Charlotte.
The backfield tandem of Torian Donaldson and Elihu Smith, the CIAA's leading rusher, combined for 340 yards and three touchdowns as the Panthers used a bruising running attack to grind out the win over the Golden Bulls.
The Panthers jumped out to 9-3 first half lead on a 32-yard Gil Hernandez field goal and a five-yard touchdown run by Donaldson (183 rushing yards; 12.2 yards per carry), both in the first quarter.
After a scoreless second quarter, Johnson C. Smith took their first possession of the third quarter and drove 59 yards in eleven plays, capped by Carl Richardson's 7-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Benjamin (9 catches, 130 yards) as the Golden Bulls took a 10-9 lead.
The Panthers would break the game open on their next two possessions as they finished off long drives of 82 and 80 yards with touchdown runs from dual threat quarterback Lamar Little (128 yards of total offense) and Smith (22 carries,157 rushing yards) respectively, as VUU pushed their lead to 23-10 after three quarters.
The Golden Bulls would threaten in the fourth quarter, when Richardson (234 passing yards) hooked up with Daniel Watkins on a 19-yard touchdown pass to trim the Panthers lead to 23-17 with over thirteen minutes left in the contest. But their defense, which gave up 480 yards of total offense in the game, was unable to stop the Panthers as they put together yet another long, sustained drive, this time an 89-yarder that ended with Donaldson's second touchdown of the day, an 8-yarder that pushed the Panthers' lead back to two scores at 30-17.
Next week the Panthers take on defending Eastern Division champion Elizabeth City State at Hovey Field in an important divisional matchup, while Johnson C. Smith (2-4, 1-2) will play host to Saint Paul's.
Conference Scoreboard
Bowie
State
44
Livingstone
6
Elizabeth City State
21
Fayetteville State 10
Saint Augustine's
23
Virginia
State
14
Shaw
26
Saint
Paul's
9
Virginia
Union
30
Johnson C. Smith 17
Standings Upcoming Games
|
October 13 |
Bowie State University |
Virginia State University |
Petersburg, VA |
1:30pm |
|
13 |
Elizabeth City State University |
Virginia Union University |
Richmond, VA |
1:00pm |
|
|
Community Youth Bowl |
|
|
|
|
13 |
Fayetteville State University |
Saint Augustine's College |
Raleigh, NC |
1:30pm |
|
13 |
Johnson C. Smith University |
Saint Paul's College |
Charlotte, NC |
6:00pm |
|
13 |
Livingstone College |
Shaw University |
Raleigh, NC |
1:00pm |
|
|
|
Homecoming |
|
|
