SALISBURY — The Elizabeth City State University Vikings came up just short of winning their second game of the season on Saturday, falling to CIAA rival Livingstone College 23-17 on the road.
The Vikings led the game twice, including by a 17-14 score heading into the fourth quarter, and were driving for what potentially could have been a game-tying touchdown when the clock expired with the football resting at the Blue Bears’ 5-yard line.
The loss dropped ECSU to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Livingston improved 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the CIAA.
Quarterback Damarcus Creecy led the Vikings’ attack on Saturday, completing 10 of 20 passes for 133 yards and one touchdown. Creecy also gained 73 yards of the Vikings’ 140 rushing yards on 12 carries. He also scored a rushing touchdown.
Zechariah Adams-Duckson was the Vikings’ second-leading rusher, gaining 56 yards on 10 carries. Rashard Biggs finished with 28 yards on eight carries.
Kash Foley led the Vikings’ receiving corps, hauling in four catches for 30 yards. Elijah Starkey had three catches for 50 yards, Shai Walker had a catch for 33 yards and Terrance Holland had one catch for 12 yards and a touchdown.
On the defensive side of the ball, Jonari Carroll had one solo tackle and six assisted tackles, Treshaun Harris had two solo tackles and four assisted tackles and Omar Richardson had one solo and five assisted tackles. Na’Sir Douglas, who had four solo tackles, also had the game’s only takeaway, a fumble recovery to stop a Blue Bears’ drive.
Both teams were evenly matched in Saturday’s game. Both finished with 18 first downs, 140 yards on the ground and 137 through the air. Livingstone had the football longer: 33.26 minutes to ECSU’s 26:34.
After both teams traded punts to start the game, ECSU scored the first points on a Riley Higgins’ 30-yard field goal that capped an eight-play drive with 2:59 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter.
The Blue Bears would score the game’s first touchdown and take a 7-3 lead when quarterback Christopher Garrett connected with Chris Washington for 14 yards, capping a 10-play, 74-yard drive with 3 minutes left in the first half.
After both teams again traded punts, ECSU would regain the lead just before halftime on Creecy’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Holland, capping a five-play, 55-yard drive with only 33 seconds remaining.
ECSU would pad its lead to 17-7 shortly after receiving the kickoff to start the third quarter. A 48-yard return by Isaiah Nixon put the ball at the Vikings’ 48-yard line. An 15-yard unnecessary roughness call on the kickoff against the Blue Bears moved the ball to the Livingstone 37.
After a seven-yard pass play to Foley, two running plays by Duckson-Adams moved the ball to the Livingston 25. Creecy then called his own number and scored on a 25-yard keeper to the end zone. Higgins’ point-after-touchdown made the score 17-7.
The Blue Bears would close the gap to 17-14 with a touchdown on their ensuing possession. Starting at their own 25-yard line, Livingstone would engineer their longest drive of the afternoon, a 13-play, 75-yard drive that consumed just over 7 minutes. On a second and 10 play from the Vikings 39-yard line, Calvin Scott rushed around the right end for a touchdown.
On its ensuing possession, ECSU would engineer a six-play, 30-yard drive that moved the ball from the Vikings’ 39-yard line to the Bears’ 31-yard line. Adams-Duckson did most of the damage, carrying the ball 30 yards on three straight rushing plays. Two incomplete passes, however, gave the Vikings a fourth and 5. Quarterback Kofi Kwaw’s pass to Wesley Calloway fell incomplete and the Blue Bears took over on downs.
After both teams again traded punts, ECSU would get a chance to pad its lead a Blue Bears’ miscue. Wallace completed a 17-yard pass to Angel Carrillo at the ECSU 47-yard line, but Douglas forced a fumble and the ball was recovered by ECSU’s TreShaun Harris with just 16 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.
But the Vikings couldn’t mount a drive. Two rushing plays moved the ball seven yards across midfield but a holding penalty pushed the ball back 15 yards and put the Vikings in a third-and-12 situation. Creecy was then sacked for 17 yards and the Vikings were forced to punt for the sixth time of the afternoon.
Taking over on their own 44-yard line, the Blue Bears would mount a six-play, 56-yard drive, capped by a 21-yard touchdown pass on a third and 11 from Wallace to Hezekiah Massey at the 9:50 mark in the fourth. The two biggest plays of the drive were Mohamed Nyanamukenga’s rush for 15 yards and Calvin Scott’s rush for 18 yards. Zapata’s point-after-kick failed, but the Bears led 20-17.
ECSU’s ensuring drive started out well. After Creecy gained 8 yards on the ground, he completed a 10-yard pass to Foley that moved the ball to the Viking 43-yard line. A holding penalty on a three-yard gain by Adams-Duckson, however, moved the ball back to the ECSU 33. A pass interference call against the Blue Bears on the next play moved the ball back to the ECSU 48. But an incomplete pass and an eight-yard loss by Creecy moved the ball back to the Viking 40, setting up 3rd and 18. An illegal forward pass on third down made it fourth down and 20 from the Viking 38-yard line. Punter Daris Satterfield’s seventh punt of the afternoon netted only seven yards, setting up the Blue Bears with a first and 10 from the Vikings’ 45-yard line.
Livingstone would move the ball to the Vikings’ 32-yard line where, facing a fourth and eight yards to go, Zapata hit a 49-yard field goal that increased the Blue Bears’ lead to 23-17 with 4:23 left.
ECSU would then mount its longest drive of the game: 75 yards on 14 plays. Starting from its own 21, the Vikings would use two rushing plays — a 5-yard burst by Creecy and a 5-yard gainer by Adams-Duckson — and two passing plays — the biggest-gainer a 13-yard toss by Creecy to Starkey — to move the ball to their own 47-yard line with 2 minutes remaining.
After another 8-yard gain by Creecy on the ground, the Vikings’ quarterback hit Starkey for 21 yards, moving the ball to the Blue Bears’ 24-yard line.
Another 5-yard gain was erased by blocking in the back penalty, but Creecy then hit Calloway for an 8-yard gain to the Blue Bears’ 21-yard line. The Livingston defense, however, sacked Creecy for the third time on the afternoon on the ensuing play, moving the ball back six yards to Blue Bears’ 27.
Facing a third and 13 with only 43 seconds left, ECSU took a timeout. When Creecy’s ensuing pass fell incomplete, setting up a fourth and 13, ECSU took another timeout with only 37 seconds left.
Creecy, as he has a number of times this season, found a way on 4th down, scampering through the middle of the Blue Bears’ defense for 19 yards to the Livingstone 8-yard line for a first down and goal.
After Creecy’s pass to Starkey fell incomplete on the next play, Livingstone took a defensive timeout with 16 seconds remaining.
On the ensuring second down play, Creecy’s pass to Adams-Duckson fell incomplete. On third and goal, Creecy rushed left for three yards but the Blue Bears kept him from reaching the end zone. The game ended with the Vikings facing a fourth and goal from Livingstone’s 5-yard line.
Prior to Saturday’s loss to Livingstone at Alumni Memorial Stadium before a crowd of 1,879, the Vikings had been 7-2 all-time against the Blue Bears. Livingstone has won the teams’ last two meetings, however, including a 19-0 shutout in September 2022.
Local News
Comments / 0