Freshman Joel Ward gave Livingstone College football fans a glimpse of the future Saturday night, and that future could be next week.

Livingstone fell 26-0 to Tusculum at Alumni Field for its second straight shutout defeat, but

Ward put some excitement into the offense late in the game.

Tusculum’s Pioneers are now 2-1, beating West Virginia Tech 19-17 in the season opener and falling to Arkansas-Monticello 23-17 last week.

The Bears, who lost 49-0 to Catawba the previous Saturday, had only 133 total yards against Tusculum’s defense. Ward accounted for 74 of those in the final minutes.

“Joel’s a great quarterback, a smart kid, a very confident kid,” said Livingstone coach Greg Richardson. “We think Joel’s going to have a great future here. We look at him as a quarterback to be. The way he played tonight, he may have to be the quarterback of now.”

Ward, the quarterback in Fayetteville 71st’s option offense last year, was 3-for-6 passing for 72 yards. He lost 1 yard on a running play for a net 71.

Starting quarterback D’Andre Hopper, the all-CIAA quarterback last year, was 2-for-16 for 3 yards and threw for one interception.

“I think D’Andre made some inconsistent reads tonight on some things. They were vulnerable in a couple of areas that we had identified earlier, but we didn’t take advantage of,” said Richardson.

Hopper didn’t start against Catawba, but came off the bench and was more effective than starter Antonio Kirkpatrick, who did not play last night.

Ward replaced Hopper when a Tusculum pass rusher appeared to stick a finger in the quarterback’s eye in the fourth quarter. The freshman’s first career pass was dropped.

Ward came back on the field for Livingstone’s last possession, which started at the Bears’ 26. He threw a 12-yard pass to Mytrell Foreman and an 18-yarder to Terrance Turner to get the ball to the Tusculum 44.

An incomplete pass, Ward’s 1-yard loss on a keeper and another incomplete pass set up the first fourth-and-long situation of Ward’s career. He responded by hitting running back Carlton Jones on a screen pass, and Jones went 42 yards before being stopped as time ran out.

“He (Ward) is a kid that we know is going to be in the program, because he’s a great student and a student of the game,” exclaimed Richardson. “We’re just looking forward to working with him some more. We didn’t think we’d have to use him this early in the season, but it’s a case of a kid getting an opportunity and making the best of an opportunity.”

Even though Ward ran an option offense like Livingstone’s in high school, Richardson said he wasn’t surprised at his passing.

“Joel is a very technique sound kid. When he goes out there, we feel good about what he can do. We won’t hesitate to use him,” said the coach.

“I could have had a better (high school) career,” said Ward. “We were a run-option oriented team. That’s what they recruited me for is option quarterback. ... I can throw the ball.”

Livingstone’s offense hasn’t been productive so far, mainly because of injuries to Jones, who played after sitting out last week’s contest, and wide receiver-kick returner Shannon Gainey, who didn’t play last night.

“We are little behind where we were last year at this time, I think, partly because we don’t have Shannon. We didn’t have Carlton all preseason. They were injured. We are a little bit behind in our execution. Getting Carlton back will help us,” said Richardson.

Jones, a 1,000-yard rusher as a freshman in 1998, didn’t start last night, but wound up with 26 yards rushing plus the 42-yard pass reception.

“I was buoyed by the fact that he was able to play, and at the end of the game that was a very fine run that he made. Hopefully, that’s going to give him some confidence to come back next week and do what we need to do to beat Virginia Union,” said Richardson.

The Bears take on Union in their CIAA opener at 4 p.m. Saturday in Roanoke, Va.

Tusculum built up a 20-0 halftime lead behind quarterback Caleb Slover’s passing, running back Aaron Claridy’s running and the record-breaking field goal kicking of Paul Czerniak.

Czerniak broke a school record with four field goals of 24, 27, 52 and 31 yards. The 52-yarder in the third period was a school record.

Slover completed 17 of 32 passes for 198 yards and hit Ryan Maples on a 20-yard touchdown play.

Claridy, a hard-running 5-foot-5, 195-pound sophomore, gained 90 yards on 19 carries and scored the Pioneers’ first touchdown from 2 yards out.