Bears Athletics - Seniors Shine in Easy Defeat of JCSU

Seniors Lead Way As Shaw Easily Defeats JCSU 50-0

(Raleigh, NC) –The schedule read “Senior Day,” but instead of simply accepting the accolades, the Bear seniors took the game in hand and easily defeated Johnson C. Smith 50-0.

Senior receiver De’Andre Okonji caught one touchdown, had 125 yards on six receptions, and recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a second touchdown.

Senior running back Aaron Ellison, Jr. rushed for 163 yards with one touchdown on 16 attempts – giving him a healthy 10.2 yards per rush average on the night.

Senior James Duplessis had seven tackles, including two tackles for a loss, while his classmates Quintez Smith and Dwayne Moss had six and five tackles, respectively.

But senior Travis Robinson may have outdone them all with 313 yards and four touchdowns on an 18 for 30 passing performance.

“Robinson is just such a great kid,” said Shaw Head Coach Darrell Asberry. “And this game was super and is four years overdue for him. He’s going to make it in life just fine – he’s endured four years of Coach Asberry.”

The Bears were dominant in all three aspects of the game, rolling up 596 yards of offense while holding the Golden Bulls to 217 yards. The Bears also blocked two punts – one recovered by Okonji in the end zone for a touchdown, and the other recovered in the end zone by JCSU for a Shaw safety.

Okonji’s recovery of the punt blocked by Tyrone Bolden opened the scoring for Shaw, then Robinson connected with four different receivers for touchdowns: Okonji, Julius Gregory, Jayson Royal, and Tyrone Craig.

Aaron Ellison broke a 34-yard run early in the third quarter to give Shaw a 34-0 lead. A few minutes later, Smith blocked a punt that was recovered by JCSU in the end zone for a safety.

Craig caught a second touchdown, this one from Marcus Brooks, to close out the Shaw scoring, giving the Bears a 50-0 final tally, and giving the seniors – and the rest of the team – an evening to enjoy.

Smith finishes the year tied with the NCAA Division II single season record for interceptions returned for touchdowns with four. In his final college game, Smith had six solo tackles, blocked the punt for the safety, and broke up a pass.

Moss had two and a half tackles for a loss and one half sack among his three tackles and two assists. Duplessis had a sack and one tackle for a loss, as well as a quarterback hurry.

The Bears finish the season with mixed emotions, however. At 8-2, Shaw has its best record since Asberry arrived at Shaw four years ago, but for the first time in three years, will not be returning to the CIAA Championship game. With a 5-2 conference record, they finished one game behind Fayetteville State, who beat Shaw 29-28 three weeks ago.

“These guys deserve something better. It is just unacceptable,” Asberry said. “We let those two games (Fayetteville State and Bowie State) get away from us. It cost us. But this was still a special year.”

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