BY: Michael Stewart, Sports Information Director, Langston University
After looking out of place and lethargic in the first 15 minutes against Texas College, the Langston University football team would shake off rust gathered from its’ bye week to improve to 7-2 on the year by posting a 29-14 victory over the Steers. However, the visiting team (which dropped to 0-10 on the season) managed to take the first lead in any game on their entire 2011 schedule by taking advantage of opportunistic scores on defense and special teams in the first quarter.
Langston University Head Coach Mickey Joseph attributed the rust to two factors: playing the only other football HBCU inside of their conference, and not playing any meaningful football in two weeks. He also shook off any perceived notions that an OU-Nebraska rivalry was in place amongst the two coaches, as Texas College Head Coach George Cumby played linebacker at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1970’s.
Langston University Head Coach Mickey Joseph attributed the rust to two factors: playing the only other football HBCU inside of their conference, and not playing any meaningful football in two weeks. He also shook off any perceived notions that an OU-Nebraska rivalry was in place amongst the two coaches, as Texas College Head Coach George Cumby played linebacker at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1970’s.
“I think that this game was bigger than George Cumby vs. Mickey Joseph,” the potential CSFL Coach of the Year candidate said. “They happen to recruit a lot of the same kids that we look for, and the opportunity isn’t there for us that often to play other historically black schools. A lot of our kids on both sides happen to know each other very well, so when you see these two schools get together, things happen to intensify and get heated more than usual.”
Joseph also denied that any rust would be lingering in Saturday’s upcoming Central States Football League Championship Game against Southern Nazarene, which is also SNU’s Homecoming. He cited Langston’s brutal non-conference schedule as a reason why the Lions would be ready on Saturday.
“We have not played a little boy’s schedule,” Joseph said of Langston’s first month, which consisted of playing four NCAA schools from Division I and Division II. “We happened to play against 63, 36, 36 and 36 scholarships in the first month compared to our ten or 11 that we are able to hand out every year, and happened to finish 2-2. So, I think that we know what we have to do this week in practice in order to get ready for Saturday.”The Steers took advantage of a huge blunder on Langston’s part just six minutes into the game, when tailback Carlos Ross fumbled the ball after catching it from Darrion Lewis on a screen pass at the six yard line. Joseph Judie recovered the fumble at the LU 3, and ran it in for the first Texas College lead of the 2011 season. Ross would atone for his mistake by running in a 13-yard touchdown with only two seconds remaining in the opening quarter to tie up the game. But, the Steers would take the Anthony Fernandez punt and spring enough blocks to allow Gary O’Leary to score another touchdown and give the visiting team a 14-7 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
“We have not played a little boy’s schedule,” Joseph said of Langston’s first month, which consisted of playing four NCAA schools from Division I and Division II. “We happened to play against 63, 36, 36 and 36 scholarships in the first month compared to our ten or 11 that we are able to hand out every year, and happened to finish 2-2. So, I think that we know what we have to do this week in practice in order to get ready for Saturday.”The Steers took advantage of a huge blunder on Langston’s part just six minutes into the game, when tailback Carlos Ross fumbled the ball after catching it from Darrion Lewis on a screen pass at the six yard line. Joseph Judie recovered the fumble at the LU 3, and ran it in for the first Texas College lead of the 2011 season. Ross would atone for his mistake by running in a 13-yard touchdown with only two seconds remaining in the opening quarter to tie up the game. But, the Steers would take the Anthony Fernandez punt and spring enough blocks to allow Gary O’Leary to score another touchdown and give the visiting team a 14-7 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
Momentum would shift in the second quarter due to a series of blocked kicks, as Fernandez would drill a 21-yard field goal to pull Langston within four points. His second field goal attempt was blocked, but Sir Demarco Bledsoe returned the favor by blocking a Texas College punt to allow Antjuan Walker to scoop and score for Langston. The extra point by Fernandez was blocked, but the Lions were able to take the lead at 16-14. Read Full Article at Langston University
