Livingstone’s Blue Bears ended seven weeks of frustration with a 34-22 CIAA football victory over Elizabeth City State at Alumni Field here Saturday night.

“We’re going to go out with a bang these last three games and finish the season up,” said senior defensive lineman O’Brian Scott. “We’re just thankful for the win tonight.”

Livingstone is 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the CIAA heading into next Saturday’s homecoming contest against North Carolina Central. The Bears finish up against Benedict in a non-conference game in Columbia, S.C., Scott’s hometown, the following Saturday.

Elizabeth City’s Vikings also stand 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

“I’m just happy for the kids, and I’m happy for our fans who have been suffering through all the losses that we’ve had this year,” said coach Greg Richardson, whose team could easily be 3-5. The Bears lost to Fayetteville State 12-6 in double overtime and to Virginia State 23-20.

“We made some plays that we had not been making all year, and that makes the difference,” said Richardson, who got the first home field victory of his two-year head coaching career. “You like to think the home field is an advantage to you. For us, it seemed like it had been a disadvantage. Our school community needed to win and our kids definitely needed to win. I think it will give us something positive to look forward to playing a tough North Carolina Central team next week.”

Rudy Abrams, the Bears’ head coach from 1994 through 1998, is now N.C. Central’s head coach.

The first victory of the season had many stars, but the spotlight was definitely on freshman Joel Ward in his first starting assignment. The Fayetteville native accounted for 151 of his team’s 183 total yards. He led the Bears in rushing with 71 yards in 14 tries.

“I’ve been working hard; the team has been working hard,” said the 5-10, 175-pound Ward. “It feels so good to win. We started our real bad. We’re 0-7, and we come back with a win. It was a big-time win.It wasn’t just an individual. It was the whole team. Everybody came together.”

Ward scored in the opening minute on a 23-yard run and threw touchdown passes of 27 yards to wide receiver Antoine Smith in the second quarter and 43 yards to running back Carlton Jones in the third period. He was in on every play while his team built up 26-14 lead.

However, when Elizabeth City struck for a touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Michael Forbes to Gregory Hale and added a 2-point conversion run by Rayshawn Askew, it was 26-22 with only 6:28 to play.

That’s when coach Richardson and his staff pulled somewhat of a surprise by bringing in a veteran quarterback, senior D’Andre Hopper. Hopper had missed last week’s loss to Johnson C. Smith for disciplinarian reasons and wasn’t supposed to play quarterback this week.

“We felt like that, in the crunch, D’Andre would be calm,” said Richardson, “that he would make the right reads, and he’s a playmaker. He made some crucial plays down there at the end that really helped us. It was a good move on the coaching staff’s part. D’Andre was ready for the challenge, and he responded well.”

Livingstone reached the Vikings’ 31 before losing the ball on downs with 2:23 to play, but star freshman linebacker Jason Ocean got the ball back immediately. He picked off an Elizabeth City pass at the 50 and ran it back to the visitors’ 25.

This time, Hopper wasn’t to be denied. The 1999 all-CIAA quarterback faked a pitch to running back Lamontee Stephens and ran 25 yards for a touchdown to wrap it up with 1:53 to play.

Starting QB Ward said of the switch late in the game, “He (Hopper) is more experienced. It was starting to get crunch time. It was a good decision. D’Andre led us to the final score and put the game out of reach.I wasn’t disappointed at all.”

Richardson had been planning to use Hopper only as a punter and placekicker.

“We weren’t going to play him at quarterback this week, but, what happened, our second quarterback, Anthony Kirkpatrick, has a bad shoulder. We had told D’Andre that he would not be playing quarterback, but if something happened, he would get a chance. As faith goes, he got the opportunity and made the best of it.”

Although Livingstone gave up 22 points and 177 first downs, it was the Blue Bears’ defense that came up with five takeaways that made the difference. Three came on fumble recoveries by Shawn Smith. The junior linebacker’s recoveries came at the Bears’ 16 in the opening quarter, the Elizabeth City 28 in the second period and the Vikings’ 45 in the third stanza. The second-quarter play set up the Ward-to-Antoine Smith scored that made it 20-6.

“Coach always wants us to attack the ball,” said Shawn Smith. “I just ran to the ball, and it happened to be there. It feels great. ... We (defensive unit) played well. We came together as one. Coach always said we could do it, and we did.”

Interceptions by Ocean and Michael Posey in the final 2:15 accounted for the other two Vikings’ turnovers.

Special teams also came up with a touchdown at a crucial point of the game. Freshman Damion Montgomery charged through to block an Elizabeth City punt, then scooped up the football and ran 4 yards for a touchdown.It was 14-6 midway through he first quarter after Jones ran for two extra points.

“That was a big play,” said Richardson of Montgomery’s TD. “It gave us the momentum again after they scored.It gave our kids the confidence. We came back and scored again.”

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NOTES: Andre McCain, a former football and basketball star at West Rowan High School, plays for Elizabeth City. He’s a 6-3, 220-pound sophomore tight end. ... Askew was the game’s leading ground-gainer, picking up 116 yards in 21 carries. He scored one TD on a 4-yard pass from John McCoy. ... Ocean was the game’s leading tackler with seven unassisted plus six assists. ... Jones ran for only 29 yards in 10 carries for Livingstone, but he had 199 all-purpose yards. He gave the Bears excellent field position twice with long kickoff returns and caught four passes for 73 yards. ... Livingstone’s Antoine Smith had three receptions for 81 yards.