Defense Leads JCSU to 17-10 Homecoming Victory Over Shaw

Box Score Defense Leads JCSU to a 17-10 Homecoming Win Over Shaw

Charlotte, N.C. (Oct. 24, 2015) –

Johnson C. Smith University football used a late defensive stand to take a 17-10 homecoming win over Shaw on Saturday afternoon at the Irwin Belk Complex in front of a capacity crowd of 4,517.

Shaw (0-8, 0-5 CIAA) had a chance to tie it late in the fourth quarter.  The Bears embarked on a potential game-winning drive with 3:54 remaining, taking it all the way to the JCSU four yard line.  The big play for the Bears came when they converted a fourth and five situation from the JCSU 18.  Trevante Long hauled in the pass from Terrence Shamby, III to set up a first and goal at the JCSU four with three seconds remaining.

Following a Shaw timeout, the JCSU defense flexed one more time, forcing  Shamby’s pass to sail high over receiver Andre Polite as time expired, giving the Golden Bulls the 17-10 win.

JCSU opened the scoring in the first quarter when Roderick Carter (Miami, Fla.) hauled in a seven yard pass from Jordan Lane (Charlotte, N.C.).  Erik Amaya (Kannapolis, N.C.) knocked in the PAT to make it 7-0 at the 7:48 left.

Amaya would then nail a 29 yard field goal in the second quarter to make it 10-0 with 9:00 left in the second quarter.  Ten seconds later, JCSU scored when defensive lineman Brice Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) broke through the Shaw line, tipping the Shamby pass.  Fellow lineman Jamaal Tutt (Atlanta, Ga.) snagged the tipped pass and raced 21 yards for his first career touchdown, making it 17-0 with 6:29 left in the second quarter.  It was also his first career interception.

Shaw battled back, scoring on a 13 yard run from Marquise Grizzle.  The point after was good, drawing the Bears to within 17-7 with 6:29 left in the third.

Shaw would hold JCSU again and would take advantage of good field position after picking off a JCSU pass at the JCSU 28.  Three plays later, Joe Nguyen booted a 20 yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 17-10 with 14:51 remaining.

Neither team could score in the fourth quarter and JCSU’s defense held on the last play to take the win.

Defensively, Austin Jacques (Springdalde, Md.) led the way for the Golden Bulls, registering 19 tackles on the day, 11 of which were solo stops.  Jacques also had four tackles for loss, a half sack and quarterback hurry.  Daryl Napper (Winston-Salem, N.C.) also had seven tackles on the day with three pass breakups while Michael Grant (Atlanta, Ga.) had six solo tackles including one sack and three tackles for loss.  Safety Carlo Thomas (East Orange, N.J.) continued his stellar play, picking off three Bear passes and returning them for a total of 67 yards.  Thomas now has 10 interceptions on the season, seven of which have occurred in the last two JCSU games.

Offensively, JCSU quarterback Jordan Lane connected for 112 yards and one score on an 11-25-1 effort.  Six different Golden Bulls caught passes with Fred Scott (Stone Mountain, Ga.) hauling in four catches for 11 yards.  Bedrick Yobo (Charlotte, N.C.) had one catch for 62 yards to lead JCSU.

The win marks the first back-to-back JCSU wins since the Golden Bulls defeated  St. Augustine’s (14-10) and Livingstone (31-14) to close out the 2014 season.

JCSU will hit the road next week for the first of two consecutive road games to close the season, taking on St. Augustine’s at 1:00 p.m.