Sacramento, CA – (September 14, 2008) The first annual Capital City Classic in Sacramento, California is now one for the textbooks. The Bears started on the field with a great bang and in his trademark green shoes, Lincoln Shepherd put the Bears on the scoreboard with a 43 yard field goal with 9:26 on the clock. On Shaw’s next play, Johnny Wooten ran for 21 yards for the first touchdown of the game sending Shaw up 10-0.
Texas Southern rallied back after they got the ball and went on to kick a 24 yard field goal that put them on the scoreboard 3-10. With 12:36 into the second quarter, Shepherd kicked a 38 yard field goal to put Shaw up 13-3. The Bears fumbled the ball with 10:06 on the clock. TSU recovered the fumble and ran for 29 yards to a touchdown sending their score to 10-13. Shaw kicked a 28 yard field goal to add three points to the score sending Shaw up 10-16. With 5:36 in the second quarter, Bobby Reid of TSU ran two yards for the touchdown sending them ahead for the first time of the game 17-16. Just before halftime, DeAndre Okanji caught a 35 yard pass from quarterback Marcus Brooks that made the score 22-17. The extra point failed by Shepherd and at the half the score was 17-22 in favor of the Bears.
At the beginning of the third quarter, TSU kicked a 28 yard field goal that sent the score to 20-22. Shaw then scored with the efforts of Wooten’s 16 yard run, sending the score 20-29 in favor of the Bears. TSU came right back with an eight yard run by Lucas Caparelli for the touchdown with 7:07 in the third quarter. Well into the quarter, Roland Robins scored on a touchdown from Reid and they failed on a two point conversion making the score 33-29 in favor of TSU. Just before the quarter ended, Reid scored on a four yard run and Robert Hersh kicked the extra point sending them to the final winning score 40-29.
After a valiant attempt to rally back, Shaw never recovered in the last quarter and the Bears suffered a heartbreaking loss out on the west coast. Darrell Asberry, Head Coach of Shaw University stated, “There are two things that we have to work on; finishing the game and remaining disciplined. We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties but we played well tonight in light of the final score. We started this way last year so I am not going to push the panic button. Our team will go home next week and start to defend our title in the conference. Keep your heads up because at the beginning and end of every day, we are family.”
With a journey that began for members of the Shaw Family aboard several Southwest flights to Sacramento on 9/11, the Bears still have what remains the most precious, memorable and important in this series of events in the inaugural Capital City Classic; each other. We remember the families and victims of that tragic day seven years ago and we honor them. In light of defeat on the field and a bit of disappointment, we also honor and respect the personal commitments and the traditions of our Shaw Family.
The Bears will play Lincoln University at Durham County Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 20th at 4:00 p.m.