Blue Bears will be at home on the road against Catawba

Getting ready for the Livingstone-Catawba clash …

The start time for Saturday’s showdown between Catawba and Livingstone is all Livingstone — 2 p.m.

Everything else in the Blue Bears’ “home game” belongs to the Tribe, however.

When the two Salisbury colleges signed a two-year contract to play in 2000 and 2001, they agreed to a home-and-away series with the understanding that both games would be at Catawba’s Kirkland Field at Shuford Stadium.

The reason is simple:Catawba’s home field can seat 4,000 fans, perfect for the expected overflow crowd. Livingstone’s Alumni Stadium can’t match that, so on Saturday, the Blue Bears will be the home team and referees from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association will work the game.

Catawba — whose home games start at 1:30 p.m. — even offered to switch sidelines and wear the visiting whites, but the Blue Bears didn’t want to take it that far.

Livingstone head coach Greg Richardson doesn’t see the road “home game”as a disadvantage.

“Wherever we play, we believe it’s home,”Richardson said. “If our kids do the things we teach them to do, show the discipline and composure they should have, we feel like we have an opportunity to win any game.”

That doesn’t mean the series always will be played at Catawba, though. Both Richardson and Indians head coach David Bennett spoke of extending the series, and it’s a distinct possibility that in 2003, the Livingstone home game could be at Livingstone after a round of renovations at the Blue Bears’ stadium.

“As this series continues, we’d like for that game to be on our campus,”Richardson said.

Bennett wouldn’t mind heading to Livingstone at all.

“Their fish sandwich (at the concession stand)is the best in Salisbury, believe me,”Bennett said. “I’m gonna have to go get one on an open date.”

CIAA pride: Livingstone is hoping to pull off another big upset for the conference this weekend.

Last Saturday, Winston-Salem State knocked off South Atlantic Conference favorite Carson-Newman 27-16. Richardson was asked if he was surprised about the victory.

“There’s a lot of internal pride. We feel like we have a conference that’s as good as any in the country,” he said. “It was not a surprise to me that Winston-Salem beat Carson-Newman.”

Bennett wasn’t surprised, either — considering C-N turned it over eight times. About a dozen Catawba players made the trip to Winston to watch the game and saw something they didn’t expect, however.

“Carson-Newman looked pretty sluggish, like they showed up not ready to go,”Indians linebacker Shawn Sanders said. “Winston played a great game.”

n

you … are … getting … sleepy: Like every head coach, Bennett has a special place in his heart for special teams. That’s why he’d really like to see punter Danny Jenkins improve on his 35.6-yard average from last year.

Jenkins, a junior from A.L. Brown, has looked good so far in the preseason — but he’s always looked good in practice, Bennett said.

“If we stand out there with Danny and let him punt the ball just in his hands, he’s going to look like he’s going to the NFL,”Bennett said. “What we’ve got to do is get Danny to where Danny can do that in a live situation.”

Not to worry, though:Bennett has a solution.

“We might see if there’s anybody in Salisbury who’d like to hypnotize Danny Jenkins and say, ‘When you get this ball in the game, it’s just like there is nobody rushing you,’ ” he said with a laugh.

n

change of volume: Curtis Walker will get to fully enjoy his promotion Saturday during the season opener. Walker begins his stint at defensive coordinator after coaching linebackers last year.

Richard Kent, the former coordinator who now works with NFL Europe, isn’t a whole lot different from Walker — but the two coaches aren’t completely similar.

“If you had to find one big difference between Richard and Curtis, it’s that Curtis doesn’t holler at ’em as much,”Bennett said. “In practice he’s more of a talker rather than a hollerer, because I think he liked that when he was a player.”

Walker never needed to be yelled at. The four-year starting linebacker at Catawba owns the second-most career tackles at the school and still holds the all-time record for tackles in a game with 25 in 1991 against Wofford.

“If he’s as good a coordinator as he was a player, we’re in for a treat,”Bennett said.

n

LENDING A HAND: Former NFL tight end and Livingstone star Ben Coates is serving as a volunteer assistant with the Blue Bears.

Coates is listed as the team’s passing coordinator and works with the receivers, but Richardson said there’s no guarantee that Coates will be around for the entire season.

Richardson said if the right NFL offer came along, Coates would resume his pro career.

n

Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com .