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Game Notes: Week Three versus VUU

Game Notes

ON TAP: For the second-straight season, Lincoln has started the football season with a win over Cheyney University in the opener and lost to New Haven in Week Two. The Lions are hoping that 2009 repeats itself with a win this week to improve to 2-1, but this season they must get through Virginia Union (0-2, 0-2) to do so. The game, to be played at 7 p.m. at Hovey Field, is the first CIAA contest for LU as a fully active NCAA Division II and CIAA member.

BROADCAST AND LIVE STATS: The game can be streamed live on the LU broadcast home www.BrandywineRadio.com. Scott Bacon has the action 15 minutes prior to kickoff. Live stats will be available at:
sidearmstats.com/vuu/football.

THE COACHES: O.J. Abanishe led Lincoln to a 3-7 mark a year ago in Lincoln's second season of football, a two-win improvement from 2008. Abanishe, in his third season at Lincoln, is 5-17. Michael Bailey coaches Virginia Union and is 6-6 overall two games into his second season.

ABOUT VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY:  The Panthers have started the season with two losses in the CIAA. In the opener on Aug. 28, Winston-Salem State, playing its first game back in the conference after a hiatus while exploring the Division I ranks, displayed some fire power in the 47-14 win. The next week at Shaw,  the Bears put up 57 points. VUU has been torched through the air, surrendering eight passing touchdowns and ranking last in the CIAA in effiency. The Panthers have prided themselves on running the football, and right now they rank 10th in the conference, having instead to rely on the arm of Aris McGlone-English, who has completed 26 of 55 passes for 412 yards and four touchdowns. Jerell Washington has rushed for a team-high 47 yards.

THE SERIES:  Lincoln is 10-22-2 all-time versus Virginia Union and currently has a nine-game losing streak. The two schools first met in 1916, a 13-0 VUU win.  LU last won in 1953, 26-6.  Last season, the Panthers utilized a 21 first-quarter points to cruise to a 21-6 victory. In that game, LU scored on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Laquan Williams (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram HS) to Anthony Wilson (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington HS) with 1:13 left in the first quarter to account for the only Lions score. Matthew Coston (Queens, N.Y./Dover HS) led LU in receptions with five. Running back D'Ante Smith (Bowie. Md./Riverdale Baptist HS) missed the game with a hamstring injury. VUU, meanwhile, collected 298 rushing yards with Christopher Smith doing the most damage, carrying the ball 28 times for 166 yards.
YEAR BY YEAR VERSUS VIRGINIA UNION:


















LINCOLN LAST WEEK: The Lions played their first road game of 2010 against the University of New Haven in the NAACP Harmony Classic at Ralph F. DellCamera Stadium, a 30-0 loss. The defense played much better than the score indicates, limiting UNH quarterback Ryan Osieski to 88 yards and a touchdown a week after he threw for 301 yards and four scores. Offensively, LU struggled in the first half but opened the third quarter with a 90-yard drive before it stalled.

DYNAMITE DEFENSE: Lincoln is currently No. 1 in the CIAA and No. 6 in the nation in total defense, allowing a miniscule 199.0 yards per game in total defense. Under defensive coordinator Herb Pickens, opponents have mustered just 208 rushiing yards and 190 passing yards through two games. LU is also leading the conference in passing defense. LU has done this through a very accomplished linebacking corps. Dameion Butler (Oakland, Calif./) has a team-high 11 stops, while Brandon McElwee (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester City Junior and Senior HS) and Daron Jones (Baltimore, Md./Cardinal Gibbons HS) are second with 10. The defense has also recorded six sacks including one by linebacker Jairon Bailey (Compton, Calif./Locke) that went for a loss of 19 yards last week.

PUNTER MAKES HISTORY: Junior Antwan Whittington (Trenton, NJ/) will forever hold a bit of school history following his performance Saturday against the University of New Haven. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) announced Monday that the punter was named Special Teams Player of the Week, becoming Lincoln's first recipient of a conference award. The Lions had not previously qualified for the weekly honors while transitioning from NCAA Division III to Division II. Whittington averaged 41.3 yards on six punts including a blast that went for 57 yards in the first quarter that pinned New Haven deep in its own territory.

GETTING INK: Linebacker Brucelee Sterile (Miami, Fla./North Miami Beach HS) was featured in Sep. 7 Philadelphia Inquirer. The junior boasts the fifth highest GPA among all Lincoln student athletes and is tops for the gridiron boys at 3.87. The article revealed that he aspires to be a corporate lawyer if he does not play in the NFL and that he spurred offers from Division I schools Stanford, Mississippi, Central Michigan  and Western Michigan, which  recruited him to play safety. “I'm trying to show that being an athlete, you don't have to be dumb in school,” said Sterile, a member of Lincoln's business club and the student-athlete adviser committee. “I want people to know that you can achieve high standards in school and still be a successful football player.”

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION: Water boy Xavier Oliver will patrol the sidelines during home games for the second consecutive year. After losing his father in a car accident and helping care for a sick mother, the 10-year-olds godmother introduced him to Lincoln football in the summer of 2009. In addition to being featured in multiple outlets, he was also present at the 2010 Student-Athlete Awards Banquet and was welcomed to the stage by a standing ovation.

LIONS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY: Ten states traversing the country are represented on the 2010 Lincoln University football roster: Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Florida, California, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware and Illinois.

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