By Nick Bowton
nbowton@salisburypost.com
Lamonte Massie understands how homecoming scheduling works, so he understands why first-year CIAA member Chowan scheduled Massie’s Livingstone team for its homecoming today.
The Blue Bears went 0-10 last season, and Chowan likely saw Livingstone as the easiest target. Just three weeks ago, that line of thinking still seemed sound.
What a difference a week makes.
Livingstone entered its game at Johnson C. Smith last week with a 1-1 conference record. A victory in that game, coupled with a loss to Bowie State that was overturned because of ineligible players, leaves Livingstone tied atop the CIAA Western Division with a 3-0 record heading into today.
“We plan on being the party-poopers,” said Massie, whose Blue Bears are 3-3 overall. “When I was at another institution, we had four homecomings one year and won all four. The following year nobody put us down for homecoming. We were 0-10 last year. (Chowan) probably looked that that, circled it, and said, ‘Yeah, let’s make sure we have the proper homecoming opponent.’
“And I think we are the proper homecoming opponent. We want to be able to go over there, welcome them to the conference and have a good time. Our guys are more focused now than they’ve ever been. We’re healthy for the most part. Our young men are ready to roll.”
Livingstone heads to Murfreesboro with an offense that had its best two games of the season the last two weeks. The Blue Bears rushed for 184 yards against Lincoln and 178 against Smith, and senior Rashaad Flucker has risen to third in the CIAA in rushing yards per game.
In Chowan (1-5, 0-3), Livingstone faces a defense that ranks last in the CIAA in both rushing yards allowed (228.8 per game) and points allowed (44.7).
“With Flucker becoming a threat, we anticipate them loading the box to make sure they stop the run,” Massie said. “Therefore, we have got to make sure we can get the ball on the perimeter and throw it to our receivers.
“There’s no secret to our gameplan. You load the box, we throw it on the perimeter; you go to the perimeter, we go with Flucker down your throat.”