The Lincoln University football team struggled against a nationally ranked opponent for the second week in a row, falling to #20 Bowie State University, 86-14 Saturday afternoon at Bulldogs Stadium in Bowie, Maryland.
 
The loss drops the Lions record to 0-9 overall and 0-6 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) games. Bowie State improves to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in league play.
 
The Bulldogs racked up 562 yards of total offense  split fairly evenly between the passing (276) and running (286) games.  BSU quarterback Amir Hall threw for 238 yards and six touchdowns on the afternoon. Robert Chesson (135 yds.) and Maurice Williams (123 yards) led the Bulldogs ground game with a combined 258 yards between them.
 
Lincoln's starting quarterback Vincent Espinoza (Madera, Calif./Madera (West Hills)) threw for 106 yards on ten completions with 43 of those coming on a third quarter completion to Andre Price (Rialto, Calif./Jurupa Hills (Chabot)).   Price was one of a trio of receivers that led the team with three receptions apiece.  Elijah Smith (Elmont, N.Y./Sewanhaka (Monroe College)) also caught three passes including a short two-yard catch from backup quarterback Trey McCollum (Burlington, N.C./Western Alamance) for a touchdown and the Lions second score of the game.  McCollum himself also caught three passes from Espinoza, all for short yardage.
 
Rameses Owens (Warrensville Hgts., Ohio/Shaker Heights Robert Morris)) led the Lions with 82 yards rushing on 14 carries, while also scoring Lincoln's lone rushing touchdown, a 41-yard run on the Lions opening drive of the second quarter.
 
Jabari Thomas (Washington, D.C./Carroll (Hampton)) produced 165 yards of all-purpose offense to lead the Lions, with all of the yardage coming on kickoff returns.  William Flowers led Bowie State with 186 all-purpose yards, all on punt returns, two of which he took back for touchdowns.  Defensively, Rob Thomas III (Cleveland, Ohio/Glenville) led the Lions with eight tackles.
 
The Bulldogs scored on their first two possessions to jump out to a 13-0 lead before Flowers fielded a 50-yard punt by Cody Waddell (Elkton, Md./Northeast) and ran it back for a touchdown and a 20-0 BSU lead.   Bowie State would add two more scores in the first quarter to lead 34-0 before the Lions got on the scoreboard.
 
The Lions opening drive of the second quarter appeared stalled with Lincoln facing a 4^th-and-11 situation on their own 24 yard line but a fake punt  play saw Waddell complete a 26 yard toss to Justin Johnson (Etters, Pa./Red Land) for an LU first down at midfield.  Four plays later, Owens ran the ball in from 41 yards out for the touchdown.  Waddell added the extra point and the Bulldogs lead was cut to 34-7.
 
Bowie State scored on their next three possessions with Hall tossing a touchdown pass each time to take a 55-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Flowers had his second punt return for a touchdown to open the third quarter scoring and Espinoza tossed his third interception leading to a 48-yard pass from Hall to Lansana Sesay for a 69-7 BSU lead.  After the Bulldogs added one more score, Lincoln followed with a nine-play 86-yard drive ending with Smith catching a two-yard touchdown pass.  Waddell kicked the extra point to make the score 76-14.
 
The Bulldogs added a field goal and one more touchdown, their 12^th of the game to round out the scoring.
 
The Lincoln football team will close out their season at home on Saturday, November 4, 2017 when they host Chowan University at Lions Stadium.  Kickoff will be at 5:00 p.m.