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Eagles flying after two straight victories

BY JOE JOHNSON
jjohnson@heraldsun.com; 419-6667

DURHAM -- Confidence was an ingredient in short supply when N.C. Central opened its season at Hampton two months ago. And then for the next five weeks the Eagles played with only a taste of it. They knew they could play, but they weren't playing with the confidence they needed.

Since beating Central Methodist three weeks ago, then having a week to temper the relief of finally winning a game, and smacking Central State (Ohio) around in the last outing, the Eagles are brimming with confidence as they prepare for Old Dominion on Saturday.

"We're going to have confidence now after winning two ballgames," NCCU coach Mose Rison said. "I'm proud of the progress we have made."

The players can feel it, too.

Cornerback David Ingram said he can sense a difference in the team now that they've won back-to-back games.

"Winning these two games has really been a confidence builder," Ingram said. "We feel like we can win any game now."

Game experience is a factor in this transformation. Going into the season Rison said he felt pretty good about the way his defense would play, and for the most part, it has delivered. Offensively, the struggles the Eagles went through can be traced back to a new starting quarterback in Micahel Johnson and a rebuilt offensive line. There were flashes of brilliance for the offense early on but it wasn't performing as consistently as Rison wanted. Now it seems to be.

"It's pleasing to see our team playing it's most solid game so far," Rison said. "Offensively and defensively we played as well as we had all year. You could see the improvement because we've had consistency on the offensive line. That has helped Michael and I'm pleased with the way Michael has played."

Rison said he knows better what to expect from his team when they hit the road to take on the Monarchs, who are in their first year of football.

"[Traveling] is not going to affect us like it did to start," Rison said. "We know it's going to be a tough game. They're 7-2 and they've beaten some pretty good people."

Rison compared Old Dominion's start to the season his Eagles had in his first year. NCCU used some early-season wins to build confidence before taking on some tougher opponents in order to gauge progress. Old Dominion has done the same thing, according to Rison.

"They're building a program and we're in transition from Division II to Division I," Rison said.

NCCU should be completely healthy against Old Dominion. Rison said his team has been fortunate so far with the small number of injuries suffered by his players. So far the only key contributors to miss game action have been wide receiver Will Scott and free safety Jeffery Henderson, who each missed NCCU's game against Central Methodist. Both came back and played well against Central State. Will Scott caught six passes for 121 yards, including two touchdowns, while Henderson helped NCCU hold the Marauders to only 161 passing yards.

NCCU's game at Old Dominion a huge one for late-season momentum
http://www.indyweekblogs.com/sports/category/nc-central/

Mike Potter · 6 Nov 2009, 4:02 PM ·

N.C. Central's offensive unit, with #75 offensive tackle Gabriel Manns the biggest of the bunch, huddles against Duke. (File photo by Rob Rowe),

N.C. Central is going to get a very big test on the football field on Saturday.

The first half of the Eagles' season was a disappointment. NCCU, facing such monumental challenges as games at Liberty, Appalachian State and Duke, was competitive at times in those conteste but saved its worst play for the weaker opponents.

So the start was 0-6, and at that point Coach Mose Rison challenged his team to win its last five games. NCCU has rolled a couple of inferior opponents at home to improve to 2-6, but the next one is the hard part.

The Eagles will visit Old Dominion (7-2) in the Monarchs' sold-out 2 p.m. homecoming contest at Foreman Field in Norfolk, Va.

Monarchs coach Bobby Wilder has undoubtedly put together a fine program in two seasons at the helm, including a time last season when the team held practice every day but there were no games and everybody was redshirted.

ODU clearly knows what it's doing in putting together winning programs, and one of the first things a winning program has to do is win.

The schedule has assured that will happen this season.

The Monarchs have beaten a pair of CIAA teams in Chowan and Virginia Union, beaten two non-scholarship Division I-FCS teams in Jacksonville and Campbell and lost to the other one (Fordham), and lost to a Monmouth team that limits itself to 30 scholarships.

The only teams ODU has played on NCCU's "level" have been Presbyterian and Savannah State. Those two teams have two wins between them, and those were against Edward Waters and Livingstone.

NCCU is two special-teams plays in overtime away from being 4-4, and an argument could be made that the Eagles have more talent than anyone else on the Monarchs' schedule. I'm not criticizing the schedule - remember that NCCU set one up to go 6-4 in its first season after leaving the CIAA.

"I'm very pleased with our progress," Rison said. "I expected us to be where we are. We just let a couple of games get away from us early and we can't do anything about that now.

"I've said all along the defense is the strength of this football team. We've got speed, we've got size, we're physical, we tackle well, we run to the ball, our corners can play man coverage. … We've grown up, and I don't think we're going to take the field and be in awe of anybody. It bodes really well for us down the line. We're going to have some confidence since we did win the last two ball games. Going on the road is not going to affect us the way it used to affect us. I expect us to have confidence and play well now."

N.C. Central (2-6) vs. Old Dominion (7-2)

[2 p.m. Saturday, Foreman Field, Norfolk, Va.]

First meeting

Broadcast info

Audio: WRJD-AM 1410, http://nccueaglepride.com

Key stats …

NCCU: Team scoring 25.1 to opponents' 29.4. Rushing 104.2 to 168.4. Passing 190.2 to 154.1. Individual leaders - (rush) Tim Shankle 135-544 6 TD, (pass) Michael Johnson 102-183-7-1334 11 TD, (receive) Will Scott 30-495 5 TD, (tackle) Teryl White 46 with 2 sacks.

ODU: Team scoring 33.4 to 21.1. Rushing 73.1 to 185.7. Passing 176.9 to 248.0. Individual leaders - (rush) Thomas DeMarco 116-669 10 TD, (pass) DeMarco 11-209-3-619 18 TD, (receive) Reid Evans 36-485 2 TD, (tackle) Mychael McJunkins 66 with 1 int. 1 fum. rec.

Best message board tidbit on the game:

BIG GRAY on http://www.onnidan.com: "If ODU had our schedule - what do you think their record would be? Would they have beaten Hampton, Morehead St., A&T, App. St, Duke or Liberty? Just curious. I will be at the game on Saturday. Yes, we do need to beat them. We really, really do, for a lot of reasons. Let's go Eagle Nation.

NCCU will win if … The Eagles can play the kind of defense they have played in most games this season. They need to win the turnover and time-of-possession battles. They need to protect quarterback Michael Johnson, who must have a good game. And they need to keep Monarch quarterback Thomas DeMarco from putting on a show.

ODU will win if … DeMarco gets enough protection to evade the NCCU rush, and the defense keeps the Eagles from controlling the football. ODU will have to keep Michael Johnson from getting comfortable.

Can the Soaring Eagles dethrone the brand-new Baby Monarchs? Of course they can, if they just forget about the records and believe they can be a better football team. It's the toughest step of Rison's challenge to win the season's final five games, but it's doable if the Eagles can keep the crowd out of the game.

Players to watch …

NCCU: #11 LB Donald Laster, #15 QB Michael Johnson, #50 DL Teryl White, #83 WR Will Scott.

ODU: #4 WR Reid Evans, #12 DB Craig Wilkins, #17 QB Thomas DeMarco, #44 LB Mychael McJunkins.

Injury report …

NCCU: No significant injuries.

ODU: DL Eddie McClam (knee) questionable.

Vegas line: None. Dunkel says ODU by 12 ½.

Score prediction: NCCU 28, Old Dominion 27.

Eagles rally late, fall short

By BRIAN J. FRENCH
Herald-Sun correspondent

NORFOLK, Va. -- Through an advertising agreement with a large soft-drink company, what football fans know as the red zone is called the Blue Zone at Old Dominion.

Which is just as well. The real red zone, as N.C. Central discovered Saturday, started at the 40-yard line. Particularly when it came to Thomas DeMarco.

The Monarchs quarterback ran for four touchdowns of between 16 and 38 yards to give ODU a big lead, then saved them from an epic collapse on the way to a 42-28 win over the Eagles before a homecoming crowd of 19,782.

DeMarco finished with 224 rushing yards and, mixing in 169 passing yards, accounted for all but 56 of the Monarchs' yards.

It also rated a pretty hefty compliment from NCCU coach Mose Rison, calling him one of the best quarterbacks his team has faced -- no small thing, given that three-time FCS All-American Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State and Thaddeus Lewis of Duke were on the Eagles' dance card this season.

"He proved to me that he's in the same class as them," Rison said. "He's the straw that stirs the drink, and he did a lot of good things today. I was impressed."

DeMarco repeatedly found holes in the Eagles' defensive line, then took off for the races, scoring three touchdowns in the first half to put the Monarchs up 21-0.

"I'll admit; I was not a happy football coach," Rison said of the Eagles' halftime standing.

The Monarchs boosted the lead to 28-0 with a Mario Crawford 9-yard run with 8:11 left in the third quarter, and some confident fans began trickling out of S.B. Ballard Stadium.

The game was far from over.

The Eagles opened up their offense, and it paid immediate -- and repeated -- dividends.

Michael Johnson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Earthan Ward with 2:36 left in the third quarter. After NCCU's defense stopped ODU on the next two drives, Will Scott caught of a pair of touchdown passes -- one from wide receiver Geovonie Irvine after a lateral from Johnson, then another TD pass from Johnson.

Linebacker Calvin Hillie then jumped on a rare DeMarco mistake, intercepting a pass deep in Monarchs territory and returning it to the 3-yard line.

When Tim Shankle ran it into the end zone on the next play, it capped a stunning stretch of six minutes, 49 seconds when NCCU knotted the score at 28-28 and ignited the Eagles' fans who made the three-hour trip from Durham.

"If we could score and make it 28-7, we could go from there," Rison said. "They never quit, and I'm proud of that fact."

But that was as close as they got. On the ensuing kickoff, ODU's Markell Wiklins ripped off a 48-yard return to the Eagles' 38-yard line. DeMarco found an open Nick Mayers in the end zone for a 38-yard scoring strike. And to top it off, DeMarco scored from 16 yards out to remove all doubt.

"[The offensive line] made great holes, and with the receivers locking down the secondary, they made it easy for me," DeMarco said.

The win gives Old Dominion an 8-2 record, setting an NCAA record for most victories by a first-year program.

NCCU -- after a third-year schedule that included road games against Duke, Appalachian State, Liberty and Hampton -- is 2-7.

Rison said joining the MEAC next season will allow them to leave the road-loaded schedules behind. The 2010 slate is expected to have seven home games, as many as they've had in 2008 and '09 combined.

"The good news is, the transition is almost complete," Rison said. "We've been playing better, but we've also escalated the level of play, and we don't have the victories to show for it."

Johnson finished with 249 yards passing for the Eagles.

NOTE -- In a scary moment toward the end of the game, Ward took a brutal, legal hit by cornerback T.J. Cowart in the fourth quarter. Play was stopped for 13 minutes while paramedics worked on the tight end. He was taken off the field in a cart and transported to a Norfolk hospital. Rison said he didn't have any information on his condition, but that he was speaking and felt a tingling in one of his arms.