JCSU Travels to Rival Livingstone for Historic 125^th Anniversary of the Start of Black College Football

Charlotte, N.C. (Nov. 3, 2017) –The Johnson C. Smith University Golden Bulls will complete the 2017 season on Saturday, Nov. 4 when they travel to Salisbury, N.C. to take on the rival Livingstone College Blue Bears in the playing of a game with 125 years of proud heritage.

JCSU (1-8, 1-5 CIAA, 1-4 Southern Division) will look for its eighth win over Livingstone in the Commemorative Classic era, which started in 2009.  JCSU comes into the game after suffering a tough 24-0 loss at St. Augustine's last week.  Against the Falcons, the JCSU offense sputtered, only managing 75 yards of total offense and a dismal 18 yards rushing, the lowest output of the season.

Despite the low offensive numbers last week, JCSU is led by quarterback Terrance Ervin (Richmond, Va.).  Ervin enters having tossed for over 1,100 yards this season and is second in team rushing behind Jachin Watkins (New Bern, N.C.).  Watkins enters with 284 yards on the ground.  On the receiving end,
Eugene Holmes (Columbia, S.C.) enters with 17 catches for the Gold and Blue, good for 188 yards while senior teammate Gabriel Yuille has a team-best 201 yards on 15 catches with one score.


Defensively, senior safety Carlo Thomas (East Orange, N.J.) had his first interception of the season last week, giving him 20 for his career. He currently leads JCSU with 57 total tackles on the season, 37 of which are solo stops.  For his career, he has 181 tackles.  Junior teammate Marcel Toran (Washington, D.C.) currently stands with 56 tackles on the year and has a team-best 9.0 tackles for loss for a total of 31 yards.

Livingstone enters the game at 0-9 on the season, 0-6 in CIAA play and 0-4 in the Southern Division.  The Blue Bears lost a tough decision to Fayetteville State last week, 28-26 when the Broncos scored a 27-yard touchdown with 1:30 remaining to spoil the Blue Bear homecoming.  The Blue Bears put up season-high 447 yards of total offense last week, including 284 on the ground.  LC got 99 yards and a touchdown from running back Justin Ruffin while Marcus Baisy churned for 75 yards and a score.  Xavier Longerbeam also had 73 yards for the Blue Bears.

Livingstone quarterbacks tossed for a combined 163 yards and two scores against FSU.  Longerbeam led the way with 81 yards on an 8-of-17 effort. Thaddeus Bell had 53 yards and two touchdowns after completing
6-of-8 attempts.  Everett Ransom led all LC receivers with 63 yards on four catches, two of which were touchdown receptions.

The much anticipated season finale for both teams celebrates the 125^th anniversary of Black College football.  As chronicled all season, the two teams played on Dec. 27, 1892 on a snow-covered field in Salisbury, N.C. in that historic game, which ended in a controversial 5-0 JCSU, then Biddle Institute, victory.

Fans not able to make it to the game can catch all the action on WGNC AM 1450/FM 100.7.  Davie Friedman will have the call.  WGNC will also provide a live audio stream on their site JCSN.WGNC.NET.


Commemorative Classic Game Notes

WGNC Live Audio Stream