Shaw Bears Defeat Broncos of Fayetteville State 19-12

Durham, NC – (October 12, 2008) Playing on their home field, the Bears of Shaw University have redeemed themselves victorious in front of excited fans at Durham County Memorial Stadium. In an amazing run, they dealt the Broncos of Fayetteville State University their first conference loss of the season 19-12. The loss for the Broncos now positions the Bears in a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference Division with FSU and Livingstone College; all with one conference loss each. After last year’s loss to the Broncos, the Bears feel fully vindicated over their conference foe. Poised on the field, the Bears refocused following their disappointing loss last week and kept the mission of victory front and center. Today’s win was crucial in their bid towards a back-2-back championship run. With 8:03 on the score clock in the first quarter, Richard Medlin of the Broncos scored on a three yard run. The PAT attempt by Bryant Conner was blocked by the Bears and after nine plays and 44 yards, the Broncos went up 6-0. Then Shaw answered back with 5:57 on the clock with a 27 yard field goal a by Caleb Reid (Virconia, NC) and the score at the end of the first quarter was 6-3. Into the second quarter, Raymond Williams (Cleveland, OH) scored an eleven yard run with 11:34 on the clock and the extra point was kicked by Reid and the Bears went ahead 10-6. Darryl Barnett of FSU scored on a nine yard pass from Calvin Harris and Conner’s attempt at the extra point failed. The score sent the Broncos ahead 12-10. Just before the half ended with 7 seconds left on the clock, Julius Gregory (Portsmith, VA) solidified the lead for the Bears with a three yard pass from Travis Robinson (Rockingham, NC) who was back in play for the Bears. Reid kicked the extra point for the Bears and the first half ended with the Bears ahead 17-12. As the third quarter got underway, the Bears never faltered for the remainder of the game and kept the lead. with 4:51 left on the clock, Lewis Hampton (Jacksonville, NC) made a safety and the final score of the game put the Bears in the winning position 19-12. Shaw’s total offense for the game was 373 over the Broncos yardage of 252. Shaw had zero fumbles and even though they received seven penalties, their play against the Broncos showed their resolve to overcome their costly mistakes. The Bears came to play. In the rushing game by the Bears, Raymond Williams and Aaron Ellison, Jr. (Hawthorn, FL) put up big numbers. With 16 carries,Williams had 100 yards and Ellison had 15 carries with 92 yards. On the receiving end, Lenell King (Mound Bayou, MS) caught four passes for 77 yards; DeAndre Okonji (Upland, CA) caught 4 passes for 46 yards and Gregory caught four for 45 yards. Giovanni Gonzalez (Miami Lakes, FL) punted the ball four times for a total of 126 yards averaging 31.5 per punt. Shaw’s number one ranked defense was a monster today holding the Broncos to 12 points and 252 yards. Led by Louis Ellis (Jackson, MS), 2008 Preseason All-America with a total of nine tackles; James Duplessis (Covington,LA) and Antonio Lyons (Winston-Salem, NC) both had six tackles; Monte Coleman (Mound Bayou, MS) and Antonio Koone (Asheville, NC) put up 5 tackles each; Liddon Levine (Oakland, CA), Gerard Jones (Baton Rouge, LA) and John Smith (Baton Rouge, LA) had four tackles each; Dwayne Moss (Petersburg, VA) and Walter Wells (Nashville,NC) both made three tackles; Okonji, LaMichael Howell (Prichard, AL) and Martellus Braxton (Lynchburg, VA) put in two tackles each for the Bears. Today’s win was a complete team effort by the Bears and they showed why they are the current 2007 reigning Champions of the CIAA. Their hearts beat to a unified and skillfully executed game plan under the amazing leadership of Darrell Asberry, Head Coach and his staff. Asberry stated, “This win was a team effort and they showed tremendous heart and commitment. They were really focused and we understood the value of what the win meant to our team. It meant the season to us.” The Bears are back in the first place saddle and look forward to an exciting Homecoming 2008 game on October 18th versus Chowan at 4:00 p.m. at Durham Country Memorial Stadium. Game on!