By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Tusculum’s football team beat down Catawba so thoroughly last season that the memory still lingers.

The Pioneers had 351 rushing yards and two pick-sixes and won 50-17.

Catawba will be on the road this Saturday at 4 p.m., looking for redemption at Pioneer Field. WSAT will broadcast the game if you’re not making the trip.

Chances of victory look slim for the Indians, who are 21-point underdogs, but it’s close to a sure thing that Catawba will put up more of a fight than it did in 2022.

Catawba lost its South Atlantic Conference opener to Mars Hill last week, but the Indians (2-1, 0-1) were in it most of the way.

Tusculum (1-2, 1-0) opened with losses to FCS squad Kennesaw State and to Virginia State, one of the CIAA’s top teams. But Tusculum had a huge road win last week, taking a 23-21 victory at Wingate. Wingate had the ball two-thirds of the game and piled up a huge advantage in yards, but Tusculum made the biggest plays, including two interceptions.

Tusculum is talented. The best indication of that talent is a roster that shows 64 players from Florida. Tusculum recruits hard in Florida, and Florida produces good football players.

Tusculum QB Matthew Palazzo, the offensive hero in the Wingate game, is not from Florida. He’s a local from Greeneville, Tenn.

Check out the SAC leaderboard, and the Tusculum guys that are visible are on the defensive side of the ball. Linebackers Wesley Scott and Earnest Johnson III tackle a lot of people.

The reigning SAC Defensive Player of the Week also is a Pioneer. Dajavon White, a 295-pound QB masher, had two sacks against Wingate. One of them was for a safety. In a 23-21 game that safety obviously was huge.

Tusculum has been getting about 80 percent of its offense through the air, but the Pioneers likely will game plan to run more on Saturday, partly because they stampeded Catawba’s defense in 2022 and partly because Catawba struggled to contain Mars Hill’s ground attack last week.

Catawba’s strengths on offense are the skill guys. Quarterback Preston Brown has emerged as the SAC’s leading passer. Receivers Bo Pryor and Jordan Mitchell rank 1-2 in the SAC receiving stats, and Connor McCarthy has provided another reliable threat.

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LIVINGSTONE

SALISBURY – Livingstone hasn’t beaten Virginia State in football since 1998.

If the Blue Bears do win Saturday’s CIAA road game at Rogers Stadium it will be shock-the-world material. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

Virginia State (3-0, 1-0) beat FCS Norfolk State to open the season, beat Tusculum, a strong SAC squad in Week 2, and annihilated St. Augustine’s 55-12 last Saturday.

St. Augustine’s scored twice — once on a punt return and once when it was 48-6, and no longer mattered very much. Virginia State held St. Augustine’s to under 200 yards of offense.

Virginia State had three of the CIAA Players of the Week, including quarterback Steve Williams, who was 18-f0r-32 for 228 yards and two TDs.

Upton Bailey, a local player from Petersburg, Va., leads the Virginia State running attack.

Livingstone is the toughest stretch of its schedule right now. If the Blue Bears can survive it, they can have a strong finish to the season.

Livingstone (0-3, 0-1) lost to Virginia State 37-7 in 2022.

Livingstone played competitively with Virginia Union last week at home and put some points on the board with QB Brenton Hilton energizing the passing game. That’s an indication the Blue Bears, who will be 35-point underdogs, may have their moments on Saturday.

Virginia Union leads the all-time series 22-9.