Greg Richardson can easily pinpoint why Livingstone has struggled since the beginning of the 2001 season.
He just has to look at the beginning of every Blue Bear game.
Livingstone has been outscored a combined 47-0 in the first quarter of games this season, and Richardson said that trend has to end.
“You have to be emotionally ready to play sometimes, and I think it takes our guys time to get on track a little bit,” Richardson said. “I don’t know if that’s youth. We have to be better prepared in the first part of the game. We have to score early now.”
The Blue Bears did a better job of that last season, but they also didn’t have to contend with such a ridiculous rash of injuries at QB.
Malcolm Weed has started since the season-ending injury to Joel Ward, but he hasn’t finished. Weed re-injured his ankle again last Saturday and was replaced by an ineffective Scott McCrimmons.
David Melton has moved up from third to first string this week. Richardson hopes that — for a change — the quarterback who gets most of the snaps in practice will take them throughout a full game.
“To get a whole team together, offensively or defensively, you’ve got to get a whole crew together and have that rhythm.” Richardson said. “We just haven’t gotten a chance to get any rhythm this year with a starting quarterback.”
AND IT COUNTS:Saturday’s contest against ECSU was originally designated as a non-conference game, but it will now count in the CIAA standings.
Livingstone’s contest with Virginia Unionon Sept. 15 was supposed to count as a conference game, but it was cancelled because of the terrorist attacks.
The Blue Bears can get their first CIAA win by beating ECSU(1-6) rather than Virginia Union (4-2).
“We need a victory to help boost our guys confidence and their emotions,” Richardson said. “For us, it’s just a good game that we need to play and we need to win. We’re looking at a three-game season, that’s what we’ve told our kids.”
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MAX PROTECTION:Elizabeth City State has allowed only three sacks this season despite the fact that it has attempted 242 passes in seven games. Virginia State, which has thrown the second-most passes in the CIAA, trails the Vikings by 44 attempts.
Livingstone’s defense has registered 11 sacks in six games.
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BUH, BUH, BAH’D: Freshman kicker Ibrahim Bah converted 2-of-3 field-goal attempts against Johnson C. Smith, including a 40-yarder in overtime.
Bah, who attended Livingstone last year but is in his first season, has made three of his five field-goal attempts this year and is 2-for-2 from at least 40 yards out.
“We think he’s going to be key to us as we go along for the rest of the season and into the year to come,”Richardson said.“He’s going to be a weapon that we can use. We need to get some easy scores, and he can do that for us.”
Bah, who is 5-foot-7 and weighs 160 pounds, isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill kicker.
“In terms of pound-for-pound, he may be one of the strongest guys we have,” Richardson said. “He’s a hard worker. His leg is getting stronger. We believe he’s going to be a very fine kicker throughout his career here here.”
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INNO RUSH: Freshman Michael Tubolino became the first Blue Bear back to eclipse the 100-yard mark for the season by gaining 14 yards on two carries against Johnson C. Smith. Tubolino has rushed 30 times for 107 yards this season.
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BIG GAINS: Shannon Gainey had a big game with five catches for 122 yards last week, and Richardson is trying to find a way to get his star wideout the ball even more.
“We just try to devise some more schemes where we can give him the ball with some wideout screens, to bring him on some sweeps, possibly even to pitch him the ball in the option,”Richardson said.
Gainey leads the CIAA with 65.0 receiving yards per game, but he has lost 22 yards on four carries this season.
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BY THE NUMBERS: Richardson can tell you that Elizabeth City State’s quarterback is dangerous. He can probably even tell you that he wears No. 10.
Just don’t ask Richardson what the player’s name is. That holds true for just about every member of the opposition that the Blue Bears face.
“I don’t look at the names of the kid, I just know he’s a great player,” Richardson said. “I tell our kids he’s a great player, that’s the only thing that matters. We look at film, we know what position he’s in, where he’s playing, and we know his number.”
For the record, ECSU’s quarterback is Michael Forbes, and he has completed 99-of-230 passes this season for 927 yards and six touchdowns.
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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