The high point Saturday afternoon for the Elizabeth City State University Vikings at Roebuck Stadium came early in the second half. ECSU had taken the lead after scoring 20 straight points and seemed to have all the momentum. The offense was moving the ball, and after a slow start, the Viking defense had settled in.
However, Lincoln University put together a long drive to retake the lead late in the third quarter, and held the home team scoreless for the rest of the way to edge ECSU 21-20, handing the Vikings their sixth loss of the season and keeping them winless in the CIAA.
“This really hurts right now, especially on homecoming,” said Viking head coach Marcus Hilliard shortly after the Vikings’ fifth straight loss. “We did a lot of good things, especially on offense, and didn’t make many mistakes. We had no turnovers. The game was there for us, we had our opportunities late, but just didn’t execute well enough down the stretch to win the game.”
From the way the game started, it appeared that the Lions might dominate the contest. After taking the opening kickoff, Lincoln running backs Nazsir Oglesby and Amir Gerald carried the ball eight straight plays.
Gaining big chunks of yardage, they moved the ball from Lincoln’s own 35-yard line all the way to the Vikings’ 4-yard line. After a false start penalty set them back five yards, quarterback Isaiah Freeman flipped a short pass to Oglesby for the afternoon’s first score. The kick by Brent Jackson was good and the visitors from Oxford, Pennsylvania led 7-0 with 10:22 left in first quarter.
ECSU failed to get a first down on its first two possessions, and Lincoln went on another drive late in the quarter.
Facing a third down and nine from the Vikings’ 44-yard line, Freeman dropped back to pass. With the receivers well covered, Freeman avoided the rush and bolted up the middle. Splitting between ECSU’s linebackers, Freeman scrambled all the way into the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown. The kick-after-touchdown was good, increasing the Lions’ lead to 14-0 as the first quarter ended.
ECSU’s offense then came to life on the legs and arm of quarterback Chase Williams after a 28-yard kickoff return by Terrance Holland got his team started at the 41-yard line.
Williams scrambled for 10 yards and then passed to Joel Hunt for a second first down. On a fourth down and three yards from the Lions’ 31-yard line, Williams bulled his way for six yards to keep the drive going. Two plays later, Williams found wide receiver Elijah Starkey with a perfect fade route throw in the back left corner of the end zone. The junior from Washington, D.C., made the tough catch, staying inbounds, and after the Riley Higgins’ conversion kick, the score was 14-7 with 11:23 left in the second quarter.
The Viking defense would force punts on the next two Lincoln possessions, the second after a third-down tackle for a loss by sophomore linebacker Zaire Smith. Elizabeth City would get the ball back on its own 24-yard line with two minutes left in the first half.
Williams scrambled for seven yards, and then found Holland with a pass on the left sideline, a play that gained 22 yards. Three plays later, Williams connected with running back Brayson Seaborne on a short pass over the middle. The senior broke the initial tackles and powered all the way for 25 yards and a first down at the Lions 19-yard line.
On the very next play, Williams passed to Holland who had run a post. and made the leaping catch in the end zone. The kick after touchdown was wide, however, and the half ended with Lincoln leading 14-13.
ECSU received the second-half kickoff and started with a short pass from Williams to former Northeastern High School standout Shemar Sutton. The Vikings got their ground game going as Zechariah Adams-Duckson would carry the ball five times in the 14-play scoring drive. The senior would go off right tackle for the final yard, and after Higgins’ kick, the home team had its first lead, 20-14, with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
In almost a mirror duplication of the Viking drive, the Lions would move downfield in eight minutes and 14 plays to regain the advantage. Gerald finished the drive with a seven-yard sweep around right end and the kick after touchdown made the score 21-20 with 1:12 left in the third quarter.
The best chance for the Vikings to regain the lead came midway through the fourth quarter when they started on their own 20-yard line, and moved the ball all the way to the Lincoln 29-yard line. There the drive stalled, and a fourth down pass fell incomplete, turning the ball back over to the Lions.
ECSU got the ball back once more deep in its own territory, but could not get a first down, and Lincoln ran out the clock.
On the day, Williams completed 14 of 27 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 56 net yards rushing. Duckson led ECSU in rushing with 66 yards on 13 attempts and a touchdown.
Senior defensive back Terrell Lindsey had an interception in the end zone that stopped a Lincoln fourth-quarter drive.
For the visitors, Oglesby led the way with 95 yards rushing on 19 carries and a touchdown reception. Freeman had 71 yards rushing, and 63 total yards passing while Gerald followed with 53 yards rushing which included a touchdown.
The tough loss dropped ECSU’s record to 2-6. The Vikings play Bowie State on Saturday in their final home game of the 2024 season. ECSU’s final game of the season will be Saturday, Nov. 9 against the Big Blue of Bluefield State University. Bluefield is 1-7 on the season and like ECSU, 0-5 in the conference.
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