It took awhile but Elizabeth City State finally found its offense.
It took only 10 seconds, and Johnson C. Smith’s offense was off to the races.
The Vikings and Golden Bulls both picked up impressive victories on Saturday afternoon, with JCSU’s triumph over Lincoln giving the Charlotte school the early edge in the CIAA standings.
Here is a recap of Saturday action around the CIAA (other final scores will be filled in as late games wrap up):
Johnson C. Smith 52, Lincoln (PA) 6
The Golden Bulls became the first team from North Carolina this season to hit 50 points. Ja’qun Wilkins returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and the rout was on.
Brevin Caldwell caught an 80-yard TD pass, helping lift JCSU to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 against CIAA foes. Quavari Crouch earned three rushing touchdowns.
Darius Ocean completed 18-of-26 passes for 331 yards, with no interceptions. Caldwell finished with nine of those catches for 188 yards.
Mason Lawson and Kemarr Edmonds added two more rushing scores. Jacob Meneses hit a 27-yard field goal.
Johnson C. Smith will put its 3-0 record on the line next weekend when defending CIAA champion Virginia Union visits. That game is slated to start at 6 p.m.
Elizabeth City State 20, Erskine 0
Don’t look now, the mighty Vikings have a win streak. Elizabeth City State won back-to-back games for the first time since 2021, earning all of its points in the fourth quarter.
Demarcus Creecy threw touchdown passes to Kash Foley (25 yards) and Wesley Calloway (49 yards) within three minutes of each other early in the fourth quarter.
Zechariah Adams-Duckson added a four-yard TD run with 1:55 remaining to seal the game. He picked up a hard-earned 73 rushing yards on the day.
Elizabeth City State improved to 2-1 overall, building on last week’s win over Chowan.
ECSU held Erskine to 145 yards rushing and 103 yards passing. The Vikings join Guilford (D3) as the only North Carolina college teams to earn shutouts thus far this season.
Catawba 37, Shaw 28
Preston Brown threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns, and the Indians outdueled the up-and-coming Bears in Durham for their first win. Jaylin Linder hauled in two of those scoring strikes. Jordan Mitchell and Marquece Williams added the other two.
Christian Peters led Shaw (2-1) with three TD passes. Ah’shaan Belcher caught two of those scoring strikes to become the school’s new leader in that category.
Winston-Salem State 19, Ohio Dominican 13 (OT)
Trevon Hester scored on a three-yard run in overtime, and Winston-Salem State avenged a loss to Ohio Dominican from last season.
The Rams picked off three passes, including an interception in OT by Jamieson Alston.
Kaleb Washington caught an 8-yard TD pass from Daylin Lee in the opening quarter. Gilberto Lorenzana hit a pair of field goals for WSSU, which lost in overtime to North Carolina A&T last week.
Livingstone 23, Allen 21
The Blue Bears, who started 0-4 a season ago, improved to 2-1 with Saturday’s non-conference victory.
A Jason Zapata 22-yard field goal with 3:18 left proved to be the difference. Allen had taken a 21-20 lead earlier in the fourth quarter with a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Nanders Lawrence.
Justin Hutchinson intercepted an Allen pass with 1:40 to go, and the Blue Bears ran out the clock from there.
Zapata hit all three of his field goal attempts. Chancellor Bryant returned a punt 50-yards for a Livingstone TD late in the second quarter. Running back Mohamed Nyanamukenga led all rushers with 138 yards on 24 carries.
#5 Valdosta State 34, Fayetteville State 0
Blake Hester rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns, keeping Valdosta State (3-0) undefeated and handing the Broncos their first loss.
Fayetteville State hung tough for a quarter, trailing just 7-0. But Valdosta scored 17 points in the second quarter to pull away.
MORE CIAA SCORES
Davenport 17, Bowie State 14
Emory & Henry 40, Bluefield State 13
