N.C. Central coach Mose Rison is 14-18 after three seasons, and the future continues to look bright. (File photo by Rob Rowe)
N.C. Central’s football season has been over for nearly a week now, and for the second straight season Mose Rison’s club finished with a 4-7 record.
After a tough start in which the Eagles went 0-6 with road defeats to heavily favored Liberty, Appalachian State and Duke, the third-year head coach had set a goal of winning the last five games to finish 5-6. And because of a road defeat at Old Dominion in the ninth game of the season, it didn’t happen.
But what kind of shape is the NCCU program in right now? Reality says it’s pretty good. Continue reading »
NCCU senior Rashad Fox celebrates after he blocks a pass from Savannah State. (Photo by Rob Rowe)
O’KELLY-RIDDICK STADIUM/DURHAM It’s the season football finale at N.C. Central, and so far the whole campaign has been a mixed bag.
NCCU went 0-6 through an extremely tough first “half” of the schedule, in which the Eagles dropped a pair of very winnable games in overtime.
Coach Mose Rison at that point set a goal of winning the last five in a row. Old Dominion derailed that idea two weeks ago, but now the idea is to win four of the last five and match last season’s 4-7 finish.
The opponent is Savannah State (2-7), which is reeling with a couple of losses to teams below the Division I level. NCCU has beaten the Tigers the past two seasons, including the season-ender in Durham last year.
NCCU, shown here taking the field on Homecoming Day, is hoping to send its five seniors out on a good note in Saturday's season finale against visiting Savannah State. (File photo by Rob Rowe).
N.C. Central’s third football season as a transitional member of NCAA Division I (FCS) will come to an end on Saturday afternoon.
And there’s every indication the Eagles will be able to end it on a high note.
The opponent is Savannah State, playing this season as the only other FCS/HBCU team. Somebody should have minted a trophy.
Mose Rison’s Eagles have won close games over the Tigers the last two seasons, and for the second straight year will play SSU at home in the season finale.
Savannah State has applied for admission to the MEAC, the conference in which NCCU will be playing next season although the Eagles won’t yet be eligible for championships.
SSU’s application may have hit a bump not of its own doing in the fall, when Winston-Salem State reversed course and announced plans to give up the ghost on its move to Division I. Continue reading »
N.C. Central had all the points it needed at halftime.
Michael Johnson completed 10 of 21 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown while Tim Shankle (pictured) added 80 yards and another score on 21 carries, giving the Eagles an 18-10 victory over long-time rival and host Winston-Salem State at Bowman Gray Stadium.
The Eagles led 15-10 at the break.
Frankie Cardelle had a 24-yard field goal early in the second quarter and a 26-yarder midway through the fourth as Mose Rison’s club improved to 3-7 with its second straight victory over the Rams (1-9).
It was NCCU’s first win over a Division I (FCS) team this season, although WSSU has announced it will return to Division II in the fall.
NCCU leads the series 22-21.
Johnson’s touchdown pass was a four-yarder to Saeed Abdul-Azeez, the Durham senior’s only catch of the day.
The Eagles, who have won three of their last four games, conclude their season at home on Nov. 21 against Savannah State.
Eagle head coach Mose Rison watches his team perform at homecoming a few weeks back. (File photo by Rob Rowe)
N.C. Central and Winston-Salem State used to be big rivals for the CIAA football championship.
And on seemingly countless occasions the Rams - when they were coached by Bill Hayes who played for the Eagles, later was NCCU athletics director and is now A.D. at WSSU - put the one blotch on the schedule that ruined the Eagles’ season.
Four years ago the Rams announced they were headed for NCAA Division I, perhaps the last prompting the NCCU administration needed for the Eagles to make the move themselves.
But the Rams’ move had problems all along. First their five-year “transition” phase was extended to six. And then in September, Chancellor Donald Reaves announced the Rams were giving up on that quest and going back to the Division II CIAA.
So whether or not Saturday’s contest at Bowman Gray Stadium will be the schools’ last football meeting for a while is an open question.
Neither team is having a great season. NCCU (2-7) didn’t get some wins it could have had early on for Mose Rison, and firewall victories over NAIA Central Methodist and Division II Central State are what has kept the Eagles from a losing season. Kermit Blount’s WSSU (1-8) beat Bethune-Cookman 16-10 on the road three weeks ago. Continue reading »
PEARSON CAFETERIA/DURHAM N.C. Central no longer has a chance to finish better than last season’s 4-7 mark.
But what the 2-7 Eagles do have looming on the schedule is a big rivalry game.
That will happen on Saturday at 1, when the Eagles visit former CIAA rival Winston-Salem State (1-8) at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Kermit Blount’s Rams had already been admitted to the MEAC, which NCCU will join as a participant next season after recently being approved for membership, but the university decided to give up on the move to Division I and head back to the CIAA.
The series is tied 21-21 after NCCU won 23-16 last season in Durham.
“I watched (WSSU) on film all day Sunday and all day yesterday,” NCCU coach Mose Rison said during his weekly press conference. “I wanted to make sure I knew what that football team was all about. I know they’re 1-8 and they’ve had some adversity. Kermit has done a great job of keeping that football team together. They’re playing hard. They really are. Last Saturday against Delaware State they were down 24-7 and found a way to come back and make that game close (losing 24-21.)
“They found a way to stay in that ball game. They’ve had a lot of off-the-field distractions and that’s made it really tough. But they’re a good football team, extremely physical on defense. They have some good players. They want to bring pressure. They have tremendous size. We’re going to have to play top-level football on Saturday.”
Rison said that’s the kind of football the Eagles played most of the second half on Saturday, when a 42-28 loss at Old Dominion on the Monarchs’ homecoming day derailed NCCU’s quest to win its final five games. Continue reading »
N.C. Central’s chances to win its last five games of the season came to an end on Saturday.
But the Eagles almost pulled the game out of the fire.
NCCU overcame a 28-point deficit to tie the game before falling 42-28 at Old Dominion in the Monarchs’ homecoming game at Foreman Field.
Thomas DeMarco stayed on his torrid pace, rushing for 224 yards and four touchdowns and throwing for 169 yards another score for ODU (8-2), which is in its first year of football since 1940.
Michael Johnson (pictured) completed 26 of 42 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns for NCCU (2-7). Geo Irvine caught six of the passes for a game-high 87 yards, while also throwing a touchdown pass to Will Scott. Scott had five catches for 57 yards and two touchdowns.
NCCU linebacker Calvin Hillie was in on 12 tackles, also intercepting a pass to set up Tim Shankle’s touchdown with 10:41 left that tied the score at 28-28.
The Eagles got a scare with 8:20 left when tight end Earthan Ward was taken off the field on a medical cart following a frightening hit. But preliminary reports indicated that Ward had not suffered a serious injury.
NCCU will visit long-time rival Winston-Salem State on Nov. 14 before ending its season at home on Nov. 21 against Savannah State.
N.C. Central's offensive unit, with #75 offensive tackle Gabriel Manns the biggest of the bunch, huddles against Duke. (File photo by Rob Rowe),
N.C. Central is going to get a very big test on the football field on Saturday.
The first half of the Eagles’ season was a disappointment. NCCU, facing such monumental challenges as games at Liberty, Appalachian State and Duke, was competitive at times in those conteste but saved its worst play for the weaker opponents.
So the start was 0-6, and at that point Coach Mose Rison challenged his team to win its last five games. NCCU has rolled a couple of inferior opponents at home to improve to 2-6, but the next one is the hard part.
The Eagles will visit Old Dominion (7-2) in the Monarchs’ sold-out 2 p.m. homecoming contest at Foreman Field in Norfolk, Va.
Monarchs coach Bobby Wilder has undoubtedly put together a fine program in two seasons at the helm, including a time last season when the team held practice every day but there were no games and everybody was redshirted.
ODU clearly knows what it’s doing in putting together winning programs, and one of the first things a winning program has to do is win. Continue reading »
NCCU defenders Teryl White, #50, Calvin Hillie, #10, Jeffery Henderson, #8, and Tyrone Jackson, #94, participate in a stop earlier this season against Duke. (File photo by Rob Rowe).
PEARSON CAFETERIA/DURHAM When N.C. Central got into an 0-6 hole to start its football season after losing three close games and three others to very superior opponents, Coach Mose Rison issued a challenge to the Eagles.
Win the last five and finish the season on a winning streak.
So far so good with that challenge, as the Eagles have outscored a pair of non-Division I opponents 105-29 in their last two games. But those results could reasonably have been expected.
Deciding what should happen this week is tougher.
NCCU (2-6), which is in its third season of transition from NCAA Division II to Division I (Championship Subdivision), will travel on Saturday for its first meeting with Old Dominion (7-2). The Monarchs are also members of the FCS, but are playing their first season of football since 1940. The 2 p.m. contest at Foreman Field is ODU’s homecoming contest.
“It was quite pleasing to see what our team was able to accomplish on Saturday,” NCCU’s third-year coach said at his weekly press conference. “I thought we played our most solid football game of the year (in a 53-22 homecoming win over Central State.) For the most part on offense and defense I thought we had played as well as we have all year.
“We made some adjustments on the offensive line and have been able to have continuity for the last three ball games. That has been a plus for us. And at the same time the quarterback (Michael Johnson) is growing up. He has a chance to be an outstanding player for us. We continue to play what I think is good football all year, defensively. We’ve been flying around, hitting, we’ve kept our turnovers down. That’s a good thing. We have not turned the ball over.”
A lot of the wins from Bobby Wilder’s Monarchs have come against the type of opposition NCCU has faced the last two weeks. Continue reading »
Mike Potter on "Women’s roundup: NCCU wins on Senior Night, Tar Heels fall": She's certainly a solid talent and has a chance to be among the top few players in the history of the program. Next season's team will be even more talented. I'm thinking her scoring might be down a bit, but I'll be surprised if they don't approach 20 wins.
