ST. PAUL’S KNOCKS SHAW OUT OF FIRST PLACE
St. Paul’s pulled off the upset with a 21-14 win over Shaw University and gave the Bulldogs of Bowie State the CIAA Eastern Division Championship. The upset and the Bowie State win (27-17) over Virginia State broke the three way tie for first.
In the CIAA Western Division action, Winston Salem State knocked off St. Augustine’s 35-33 in a thriller, which gave N.C. Central the championship. N.C. Central and Bowie State will meet next Saturday (November 5th) in the CIAA Championship game at O’Kelly Riddick Stadium.
The Bears struck first with 3:19 left in the first quarter on a two yard run by Darreous Moody capping a four play 68 yard drive. The Tigers answered with a Lonie Sanders 70 yard touchdown reception from Walter Virgil with 1:31 left in the first quarter. The 7-7 tie held up until the 5:51 mark of the third quarter when Craig Mangrum capped a 10 play 85 yard drive with a one yard touchdown run.
Reginald Price got the Bears back on the score board with a six yard touchdown reception from Jermonty Kimbrough with1:28 left in the third. With 14:31 left in the game, Larry Graham completed what turned out to be the back breaker with a 61 yard touchdown run.
Kimbrough finished the afternoon completing 13 of 30 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown. The Tigers Craig Mangrum led all rushers with 86 yards on 21 carries.
The game was tagged the Western Virginia Education Classic and Mangrum was named the Offensive MVP and Shaw’s David Coleman was named the Defensive MVP finishing with eight tackles including five for 14 yards in losses.
The win improved the Tigers to 4-6 and 3-4 in the CIAA, while the Bears dropped to 5-5 and 4-3 in the CIAA. This is the Bears worst finish since the return of football in 2002. This was St. Paul’s first CIAA football action in 15 years.
