By Rick Rogers
Livingstone Sports Information
MURFREESBORO ó The Livingstone football team was unable to get its 2011 season off on the right foot Thursday as the Blue Bears fell to the Chowan Hawks 43-7.
Chowan won the opening toss and elected to receive and on its opening drive took the ball 79 yards on 15 plays for the touchdown. Along the way the Hawks converted a fourth down attempt to keep the drive alive. The Hawks missed the extra point and led 6-0 with 9:17 left in the first quarter.
Livingstoneís first possession ended with a punt after three plays, but Chowan fumbled the ensuing punt and the Blue Bears recovered on their own 45 yard line. The turnover by the Hawks led to nothing for the Blue Bears and they punted again. The remainder of the first quarter went scoreless and Chowan led 6-0 heading into the second quarter.
Chowan and Livingstone traded punts on the first two possessions of the second half before the Hawks converted a 27-yard field goal with 7:40 remaining in the first half to go up 9-0. The ensuing kickoff was fumbled by the Blue Bears and recovered by Chowan. The Hawks ran three plays in 1:05 for a touchdown and a 16-0 lead with 6:26 remaining.
The Hawks added touchdowns with 4:02 remaining and 2:23 left on the clock to take a 29-0 lead. Livingstone punted with 40 seconds left, but after just two plays, freshman Justin Avery intercepted a pass at the three yard line and returned it 97 yards for a Blue Bear touchdown. Freshman kicker Hillman Tabi added the extra point and the Blue Bears trailed 29-7 at the half.
Livingstone managed only 12 yards of total offense in the first half with one first down while the Hawks racked up 310 total yards of offense.
The Blue Bears took the opening kickoff of the second half and punted on their first possession followed by a punt by Chowan. On Livingstoneís next possession, the Hawks picked a Levon Stanley pass. The Hawks turned that turnover into a touchdown with 6:14 left in the third quarter to take a 36-7 lead.
Chowan added another touchdown with 1:28 to take a 43-7 advantage. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter and the Hawks won 43-7.
The Blue Bears amassed a total of 12 offensive yards for the game with five coming via the rush and seven coming through the air. Chowan totaled 452 total yards with 215 coming on the ground and 237 via the pass.
Senior running back Jamel Moore had 13 rushing yards while Stanley completed three passes for seven yards but had two interceptions. Defensively, senior Justin Johnson led the Blue Bears with 12 total tackles including 2.5 for loss. Sophomore Tyheim Pitt and senior Devonta Harmon each finished with 11 tackles while junior Travis Holliday had 10 tackles.
The Blue Bears fell to 0-1 to start the season while the Hawks went to 1-0. This games will not count towards conference records for either institution.
Livingstone will stay on the road next Saturday when they head to Rocky Mount to meet the Vikings of Elizabeth City State at 4 p.m. in the Down East Football Classic.