FSU Football Falls in CIAA Championship
posted by Keyona Smith | November 21, 2019 | In SportsFayetteville State University’s football team have played a tremendous season (8-2), beating at least three teams by over 50 points, falling only twice overall to Wingate University and St. Augustine’s University. They’ve dominated the conference turf 6-1, even after adjusting huge positions such as quarterback, creating new strategies and strengthening older ones on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
Last Saturday, November 16, they met the Bulldogs of Bowie State University in Salem, Virginia for the third consecutive helmet-to-helmet battle of CIAA championship football. Going into the match-up the Bulldogs have walked away the last two times victorious over the Broncos, but since then, game plans, attitude and mentality have changed.
Despite this, FSU fell 23-7 after Bowie State took an early lead 14-0, and the Broncos were not able to battle back.
The loss, however, does not take away from the positive changes in the team. A ripple effect from head coach Richard Hayes all the way down to his players, specifically cornerback Brandon Barnes-Brown, believe that FSU should and will be seen as elite competition versus their opponents.
“Week by week, we’re taking it a game at a time. It’s not just us trying to win a CIAA championship. It’s really us trying to make it to the playoffs to show people that Fayetteville State is not a joke,” said Barnes-Brown during a two-minute drill in season.
The last time FSU left the field carrying heavy metal above their heads with the score 21-10 during the championship match-up was back in 2009.
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