By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
For the third week in a row, Livingstone is at home, facing Chowan at 1:30 p.m. today.
One thing’s for sure when the Hawks visit Alumni Stadium. One team will get its first win of the season.
Both Chowan and Livingstone enter today 0-3 in the CIAA’s Western Division and 0-6 overall.
The Blue Bears actually held their first leads of the season last week in a 30-15 loss to Johnson C. Smith, and Eric Brown’s team does have homefield advantage. But the defensive secondary will be put to the test as it faces the league’s top passer in C.J. Westler.
Last week, in a 37-17 loss to Fayetteville State, Westler was held to a season-low 161 yards on 13-of-38 passing. Six of those completions went to Kevin Hodrick for 60 yards. Livingstone needs to keep a close watch on Hodrick, who scored both of the Hawks’ touchdowns against Fayetteville State.
Ray Bradley is Chowan’s top runner. He had 132 yards on 18 carries against FSU.
A bright spot for Livingstone is that its running game finally kicked into gear in the loss to JCSU, gaining a season-high 164 net yards, 167 by Linwood Jenkins.Quarterback Stevie Williams also showed an accurate arm, going 15 of 20 for 134 yards.
This will be the third game for Brown, the interim coach who took over when Lamonte Massie was let go.