Two of North Carolina’s biggest D2 rivalry games today came down to the wire, with Johnson C. Smith clipping Fayetteville State 17-14 on a late rushing touchdown and Wingate edging Lenoir-Rhyne 38-37 in overtime after halting a 2-point PAT.
Elizabeth City State stormed back to spoil Bowie State’s homecoming. UNC Pembroke kept playoff hopes alive with an in-state win over Barton. Chowan bounced Erskine with 14 fourth-quarter points, while Mars Hill and Livingstone each earned lopsided victories. Catawba was foiled by Carson-Newman
We’ve been tracking all the North Carolina D2 football action today here in our Game Day thread. The full scoreboard is below, and we’ll add to the D2 Wrap-up section throughout the evening.
GAME-DAY READING: It’s still not too late to check out this week’s North Carolina D2 Football Extra, published earlier in the week. There are stat leaders and a lot of news & notes from the CIAA, SAC and Conference Carolinas. We’ll publish a new version this coming week.
D2 IS FABULOUS: Seven teams from Division II made this week’s Fabulous 15, including the No. 1 squad.
🔗 Jump To: Today’s D2 Games | Live Scoreboard | Wrap-Up
🏈 More NC College Football Game-Day Threads: FBS | FCS | D2 | D3
🏆 Full Scoreboard: Complete North Carolina College Scoreboard
📅 North Carolina D2 Football | Saturday, November 1
🔥CIAA Football Games Today
Johnson C. Smith 17, Fayetteville State 14
Elizabeth City State 28, Bowie State 27
Livingstone 43, Shaw 13
Virginia State 35, Lincoln 14
Virginia Union at Bluefield State | 6 p.m.
Winston-Salem State idle
🚨 HIGH STAKES: Johnson C. Smith’s win over Fayetteville State gives the Golden Bulls the inside track to the upcoming CIAA championship game. The most likely matchup now, provided JCSU doesn’t trip up next week against Livingstone, is Johnson C. Smith vs. Virginia Union.
💪 Conference Carolinas Games Today
North Greenville 27, Ferrum 0
Chowan 34, Erskine 0
UNC Pembroke 34, Barton 17
🚨 TITLE TALK: The Conference Carolinas championship game matchup is locked in. UNC Pembroke will visit North Greenville on Saturday, Nov. 15, with the winner earning the conference’s automatic berth into the D2 playoffs. UNCP has a bye next weekend to get read.
⚡South Atlantic Conference Games Today
Carson-Newman 24, Catawba 16
Mars Hill 28, Tusculum 7
Wingate 38, Lenoir-Rhyne 37 (live, OT)
Newberry 24, Anderson 21
🚨 FABULOUS 15 CHAMPS HEAD-TO-HEAD: The 2024 NC Football News‘ Fabulous 15 champion, the Wingate Bulldogs, edged the 2023 champ, Lenoir-Rhyne. Wingate entered this weekend as the No. 3 team in our unique statewide college football ranking.
BULLDOGS WIN!!!!!!@WingateFb scores with 19 seconds left in regulation to send it to OT, scores on the opening drive, then stuffs LR on a potential game-winning 2-point try!!
4 straight dubs for the 'Dogs; 7-2 overall & 5-2 in the SAC#OneDog pic.twitter.com/URr9ARfx3C — Wingate Bulldogs (@WU_Bulldogs) November 1, 2025
✅ D2 Football Wrap-Up
Here are the big wins, big surprises, big performances and other takeaways from Nov. 1 action in North Carolina Division II football.
🏆 Biggest Win of the Day
In terms of stakes, no D2 game loomed larger in our state on Saturday than Johnson C. Smith’s 17-14 triumph at Fayetteville State. The Golden Bulls claimed the inside track to be Virginia Union’s opponent in the upcoming CIAA championship game in a few weeks. Fayetteville State now will need a lot of help to return to the title tilt.
Johnson C. Smith controlled the clock much of the way and seemed in firm control up 10-0 after three quarters. But Fayetteville State recovered a muffed punt to start the fourth, scored two touchdowns to take a 14-10 lead and it looked like the Broncos’ decade-long hex over JCSU would continue another year.
But the Golden Bulls reversed the curse. Getting the ball back with 3:22 left, the Bulls moved 69 yards in nine plays to record the go-ahead touchdown. Bobby Smith literally willed his way into the end zone on a 6-yard carry through the middle, finding paydirt with 13 ticks left. Quarterback Kelvin Durham had just converted a fourth-and-9 the play before with a 12-yard scramble.
Johnson C. Smith beat Fayetteville State for the first time since 2015 and won on the Broncos’ home turf for the first time since 2012.
💪 Standout Performances
Bobby Smith carried 31 times for Johnson C. Smith on Saturday, but no run proved more impressive than his last. Smith plowed six yards through the heart of the Fayetteville State defense, driving tacklers with him, until he fell into the end zone with 13 seconds left. Smith finished with 113 rushing yards, help fuel a ball-control offense.
Wingate quarterback Elijah Holmes completed 23-of-36 passes for 350 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Lenoir-Rhyne. He was picked off three times but bounced back to throw the game-winning TD pass in overtime. Lenoir-Rhyne’s Khamoni Robinson countered with a 21-of-30 performance for 283 yards and two TDs. All told, the Bulldogs and Bears combined for 669 passing yards and 960 yards of total offense.
⚡ Biggest Upset
Elizabeth City State had lost 11 in a row to Bowie State and seemed on its way to defeat No. 12, trailing 27-7 midway through the third quarter. But the Vikings recorded 21 unanswered points to steal the victory and end the skid.
The winning points came on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Navian Hilliard to Terrance Holland with 1:51 to go, capped by Wyatt Jackson’s PAT.
A Shamar Sutton fumble recovery at the Bowie 29 set up the last score. Manuel Montout had a key interception earlier in the game to swing the momentum.
Running back Traquan Johnson had a short touchdown run, while Hilliard completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Joe Griffin as part of the second-half comeback. Elizabeth City State improved to 3-6 with the victory (3-3 CIAA) and will prepare for homecoming next week against Bluefield State.
🔥 Other Highlights & Takeaways
- Wingate rallied from a 21-3 deficit in its win over Lenoir-Rhyne. The Bulldogs forced overtime with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Holmes to Carlos Estronza with 19 seconds to go. Xavier Pugh scored on a 10-yard run in OT, with Caleb Bonesteel providing the all-important PAT. Lenoir-Rhyne answered with a Khamoni Robinson 6-yard TD, but Wingate’s Elijah Barnes foiled a two-point conversion attempt for the final margin.
- Johnson C. Smith held the ball for 38:23 against Fayetteville State. The Bulls ran 68 plays, while FSU managed 60 plays in 21:37. The game featured 14 punts.
- Wingate had two 100-yard receivers on Saturday – Jaylen Himes (134 yards, 2 TDs) and Xavier Jackson (107 yards, 1 TD). Lenoir-Rhyne featured a 100-yard receiver – Songa Yates (119 yards, 1 TD) – and a 100-yard rusher – Alex Boyd (103 yards, 1 TD).
- Lenoir-Rhyne’s James Ussery recorded 13 tackles and picked off a pass. John Royal and Desmond Greene also had picks for the Bears, with Royal returning his 52 yards.
- Catawba’s Bryson Sims kicked field goals of 20, 32 and 26 yards against Carson-Newman. He also had a fourth-quarter extra point.
- Livingstone’s Kobe Pringle (18 yards) and Kenyon Garner (45 yards) both returned fumbles for touchdowns against Shaw. Garner, who leads the nation in tackles-for-loss, had 3.0 TFLs in this game – with one resulting in a safety. Shaw managed just 139 yards of total offense.
- Javen Parker had a 125-yard rushing day for Livingstone. He averaged 6.0 yards per carry with a 43-yard burst.
- UNC Pembroke pulled away with 20 points in the second half for a win on American Indian Heritage Day. The Braves are a perfect 5-0 when playing at home this season. At 8-2 overall, UNCP is just two wins away from matching the program’s best-ever record of 10-2.
- Isi Etute disrupted Barton’s offense all day. The UNCP defensive standout recorded 3.5 tackles-for-loss, had two sacks, forced two fumbles and earned two more QB hurries.
- Barton’s Keno Jones, one of the top tacklers in our state, added 12 more to his tally on Saturday, including 10 solo stops and two tackles-for-loss.
- Chowan gave up a 6-yard passing touchdown and fell behind Erskine 30-27 with 59 seconds left. But Antwone Godley returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a score, helping the Hawks steal a conference road win. Chowan improved to 3-6 overall, 2-3 in Conference Carolinas. Dominic Haney had two rushing touchdowns for the Hawks.
- JR Martin threw for 259 yards and four touchdowns, and Mars Hill bounced back into the win column in convincing fashion against struggling Tusculum. Charlie Guinade caught three of the TDs, covering 8, 51 and 64 yards in the first half. Javonte Sherman added a 64-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter.
- Pierce Keenan recorded 3.5 tackles-for-loss, 2 sacks and 9 total tackles to lead the Mars Hill defense. He also recovered a fumble.
📊 Live Scoreboard: North Carolina D2 Football
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | Catawba | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 16 | Final | |
 | Carson-Newman | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 | FloCollege | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | JCSU | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 | Final | |
 | Fayetteville St | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 | CIAA-SN | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | ECSU | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 28 | Final | |
 | Bowie State | 0 | 14 | 13 | 0 | 27 | CIAA-SN | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | Chowan | 7 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 34 | Final | |
 | Erskine | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 30 | CCDN | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | Mars Hill | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 28 | Final | |
 | Tusculum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | FloCollege | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | Shaw | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 13 | Final | |
 | Livingstone | 2 | 21 | 7 | 13 | 43 | CIAA-SN | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | Barton | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 17 | Final | |
 | UNCP | 0 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 34 | CCDN | |
| TOTAL | ||||||||
 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 14 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 37 | Final OT |
 | Wingate | 3 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 38 | FloCollege |
