KINGS, TROJANS WIN CREATING 3-WAY TIE FOR EASTERN DIVISION TITLE

November 1, 2009

RICHMOND, VA-The calendar said Halloween, but Virginia Union must have thought it was Christmas. The Panthers were in a gift-giving mood, turning the ball over seven times, as the Elizabeth City State Vikings (7-3, 5-2 CIAA), behind Cedric Blacknall's three rushing touchdowns, rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat the Panthers 21-13 yesterday in Richmond.

The Panthers (6-4, 5-2 CIAA), who came into the game needing a win to clinch the Eastern Division title outright, tossed five interceptions and lost two fumbles in a loss (coupled with a Bowie State loss) that creates a three-way tie for the Eastern Division title.

Virginia Union got a one-yard touchdown run from Wesley Queen and a 17-yard touchdown reception from Aris English to Joseph Jean-Pierre to take a 13-7 halftime lead over the Vikings. Elizabeth City's lone first half score came on Blacknall's three-yard run in the second quarter.

The Panthers' 13-7 lead would hold up until 35 seconds left in the third quarter when Blacknall rambled in for a score from ten yards out. Kicker Daniel Mendez added the PAT as the Vikings took their first lead of the day at 14-13.

The Vikings stretched their lead when Blacknall capped a 4-play, 31-yard drive with his third touchdown of the day, a 2-yard run, and Mendez kicked a PAT to push the lead to 21-13 with 10:19 remaining in the game. The short field scoring drive was set up when Virginia Union tailback Wesley Queen fumbled the ball at the Panthers' 30-yard line.  

The Vikings' defense would carry them the rest of the way, forcing two more VUU fumbles and stopping the Panthers on two fourth down conversion attempts. With the win, the Vikings move into a three-way tie with Virginia Union and Bowie State for the Eastern Division title and a berth in next week's CIAA Championship game.

PETERSBURG, VA-Virginia State's Antwain Lyde and Rahoo Walker each scored rushing touchdowns and the defense stopped a potential game-tying two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter as the Virginia State Trojans downed the Bowie State Bulldogs 14-12 yesterday in Petersburg to create a three-team logjam atop the CIAA Eastern Division.

The Trojans (6-4, 4-3 CIAA) jumped out to an early 7-0 first quarter lead on Lyde's 20-yard touchdown run. The score was set up when the Trojans converted a fake punt into a first down on the previous play.  Bowie State

(5-5, 5-2 CIAA) would get on the scoreboard when Michael Gagne kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter as the Bulldogs trailed 7-3 at halftime. 

In the third quarter, a fumbled punt by Bowie State's Clifton Budd that was recovered by the Trojans at the Bulldogs' four-yard line led to VSU's next score.  Three plays later, Walker scored from two-yards out to give the Trojans a 14-3 lead.

With their division title hopes on the line, the Bulldogs would mount a rally behind Gagne's 29-yard field goal that cut the lead to 14-6 with 4:31 left in the third quarter.  Following a blocked punt by Delano Johnson that the Bulldogs recovered at the Trojans' 14-yard line, BSU put together a three-play scoring drive capped by Ramono Flowers' 2-yard touchdown run to trim the lead to 14-12 with 2:49 left in the game. But the Bulldogs came up short on the two-point conversion attempt and now must wait on the results of a coin toss to determine whether they will face Fayetteville State in next week's CIAA Championship game.

Because of the three-way tie, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association will conduct a tie-breaking coin toss today at the conference office at 1:00pm.

The accounting firm of Cavanaugh & Nelson, PC will administer the coin toss tiebreaker. The tiebreaker is necessary because all three teams (VUU, ECSU and BSU) have identical 5-2 records in the Eastern Division and are 2-1 versus the common opponents of Lincoln, St. Paul's and Virginia State.

Administration of the tiebreaker will be streamed live on www.livestream.com/CIAA.  

Fayetteville State has already clinched the Western Division and awaits the winner of the East to complete the Championship Game matchup. The Championship Game will be held on Saturday, November 7 in Durham, North Carolina at Durham County Stadium.

Conference Scoreboard

ELIZABETH CITY ST.           21                    VIRGINIA UNION                  13

FAYETTEVILLE ST.              31                    LIVINGSTONE                         8

SAINT AUGUSTINE'S          28                    CHOWAN                               18                  

SAINT PAUL'S                     16                    LINCOLN                                  6

SHAW                                   50                   JOHNSON C. SMITH                0

VIRGINIA STATE                  14                  BOWIE STATE                        12                                          

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
2009 Football Standings
Through games of October 31, 2009

                                                CIAA EAST

                                                Div/Conf                                           Overall
----                                          W        L         PCT                W        L         PCT
Bowie State                           5          2          0.714              6          4          0.600
Elizabeth City State               5          2          0.714              7          3          0.700
Virginia Union                        5          2          0.714              6          4          0.600
Virginia State                         4          3          0.571              6          4          0.600
Saint Paul's                            3          4          0.423              4          5          0.444

                                                CIAA West

----                                          W        L         PCT                W        L         PCT
Fayetteville State                  6          1          0.857              7          3          0.700
Shaw                                      5          2          0.714              8          2          0.800
Saint Augustine's                   4          3          0.571              4          6          0.400
Chowan                                  2          5          0.285              2          8          0.200
Johnson C. Smith                   2          5          0.285              3          7          0.300
Livingstone                            0          7          0.000              0          10        0.000

Upcoming Games:

November 7, 2009

CIAA Football Championship Game

Durham County Stadium

Durham, NC

1:00pm