Johnson C. Smith fell to the Blue Bears 30-8 at Memorial Stadium in the renewal of the oldest rivalry in black college football.

Livingstone leads the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in total offense, but the Blue Bears were shut out in back-to-back games by Virginia State and Winston-Salem the first two Saturdays in October.

This time, Richardson and Thomas came up with a few offensive wrinkles, and the Bears cashed in on five scoring opportunities.

Running back Carlton Jones scored two of the touchdowns and almost scored another, but teammate Shannon Gainey got credit for one score when he recovered a Jones fumble in the end zone after Jones apparently had possession when he crossed the goal line.

Livingstone wound up with 403 yards total offense.

It was no surprise that Jones rushed for 111 yards on 14 carries, despite being used as a slotback or receiver most of the first half, but freshman running back Lamontee’ Stephens had his best game of the season. The former Kernersville Glenn star had 101 yards in 13 attempts.

The home team’s official stats cut Stephens short on rushing, somehow counting a 45-yard run on a pitchout from quarterback D’Andre Hopper as a pass play. According to the Post, however, he had his first 100-yard game on the ground.

“I felt great,” said Stephens. “Being a freshman, I had to step it up. I had a lot of pressure on my back today. This was my best game of the season. The coach has been pushing me in practice every day, every week. I want to commend my O-line (offensive linemen), because they did a good blocking job.”

“He’s coming on as a real force in the backfield. He’s not a shifty type of back, but when he gets out there, he’s a hard load to bring down,” said Richardson. “We’re really happy with Lamontee’s progress, and as he learns our offense — he’s still learning — he’ll get even better at a particular run and dive.

Hopper, the conference’s total offense leader, accounted for 129 yards passing and running.

Offensive coordinator Thomas said of his unit’s solid performance, which included only one turnover, “We’ve just had some problems in the red zone. We feel like our offense is much more capable of driving the ball up and down the field. Scoring really hasn’t been a problem until the last couple of weeks where we’ve gotten in the red zone and we’ve stalled. One of the adjustments that we’ve made, which actually was coach Richardson’s idea, we came up with a power jumbo package. That was the spark that we needed.”

Thomas was referring to a 515-pound combination of defensive end Ronnie Washburn (275) and linebacker Marcus Bankhead (240), who were used several times as a blocking tandem for Jones in short-yardage and goal-line situations.

Washburn, the CIAA defensive player of the year in 1998, even scored a touchdown, charging through a gaping hole from 5 yards out.

“Oh, man, that’s my first collegiate touchdown; I’m pretty excited,” said Washburn, who celebrated by picking up the 185-pound Jones and carrying his teammate over his shoulder with one arm. “I enjoyed it. I hope we do more of it.”

Bankhead said of the new look on offense, “I loved that. We are going to have to start doing that more often. It worked out fine.”

Bankhead and Washburn were in the offensive backfield blocking for Jones early in the second quarter. Jones followed them through the right side of his line and got into the end zone from 10 yards out, then fumbled. Officials didn’t signal a touchdown, but wide receiver Shannon Gainey fell on the loose ball to make it an official 6-pointer. Chris Terry’s conversion made it 7-0.

Then Washburn scored from 5 yards out, and Terry converted. It was 14-0 at halftime.

Jones got his first touchdown on a 19-yard run early in the fourth quarter, aided by Stephens’ block, for a 20-0 advantage. Keith Roberts added a 44-yard field goal to make it 23-0.

The Golden Bulls cut the lead to 23-8 on a 51-yards touchdown pass from quarterback Spencer Mayo to wide receiver Jamad Woods. Courtney Rosser also caught a pass for the 2-point conversion.

After a 42-yard TD run by Gainey was nullified by a penalty, Jones got the final Livingstone score on a 17-yard run.

Despite the win, Livingstone stayed 1-3 in the conference, because the game did not count in the standings for the Bears. It did count for J.C. Smith, which fell to 1-3.

Only seven league games count in the nine-team league, meaning schools like Livingstone that have an eighth game must drop one.

Livingstone, J.C. Smith and Fayetteville State are tied for sixth place.