The Fayetteville State Broncos kept their perfect conference record intact following a 38-14 homecoming win over the Livingstone Blue Bears.
Fayetteville State improves to 4-0 in CIAA play with the win, keeping itself a half-game ahead of Virginia Union (3-0 against the CIAA) in the conference.
Meanwhile, Livingstone drops its second straight, dropping its conference record to 2-2 and falling to 1-3 overall on the road.
The Broncos’ defense kept the Blue Bears offense at bay, limiting them to 65 rushing yards on 32 attempts while also forcing 7.0 sacks and three turnovers.
Junior defensive lineman Aaron Johnson was Fayetteville State’s top performer, finishing with 2.0 sacks, 2.0 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.
However, it was Livingstone’s offense that put the first points of the game on the board, taking advantage of a strong punt return that afforded them the best starting field position of the game to that point.
On the first play from scrimmage, Elijah Alexander connected with Ronald Lindsey on a short pass up the middle that went for 38 yards, putting them in goal-to-go territory.
While Fayetteville State’s defense would hold strong, taking them to a fourth down, Livingstone would punch it in on a QB sneak to take a 7-0 lead.
Fayetteville State immediately responded with a 65-yard touchdown drive of its own to tie the game before the end of the first quarter.
This would begin a run of 35 unanswered points for the Broncos, capped by capitalizing on a fumble recovery that turned into a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Braylon Vinson in the third quarter.
Heading into an idle week, Fayetteville State will return to the football field on October 25, going on the road for a matchup against the Shaw Bears.
