CIAA Championship
North Carolina Central 17, Elizabeth City State 14

Gilbert comes through again; NCCU makes it two straight CIAA Championships

November 11, 2006

by Lut Williams
Black College Sports Page

Saturday's CIAA Football Championship game was the last for North Carolina Central as a conference school and the Eagles certainly went out in dramatic fashion.

NCCU placekicker Bradon Gilbert's career-long 51-yard field goal with five seconds left split the uprights as time expired to give the undefeated West Division champion Eagles (11-0) a stunning 17-14 win over East Division champ Elizabeth City State (9-2) before a crowd of 11,562 fans at NCCU's O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium.

The win allows fourth-year head coach Rod Broadway's Eagles to go out in style winning their second consecutive CIAA title, and sending them on to their second straight trip to the NCAA Div. II playoffs.

"I felt fine," said Gilbert of his state of mind as he approached his game-winner despite missing from 37 yards out earlier in the final period.

"I kicked one from there in pre-game. I knew I was going to have the distance." "I had told him when he missed that one to keep your head up Œcause we're going to have to come back to you again," said Broadway. "And we did.

He hit one in practice on Wednesday from the same distance." It's the last CIAA gridiron title for NCCU who is leaving NCAA Div. II and the CIAA moving to Div. I next year. And the script was eerily similar to last year's title, the first for the school in 25 years. Gilbert hit a 30-yarder on the 2005 title game's final play to give the Eagles a 26-23 win over Bowie State.

This time NCCU got into position for the winning kick on wide receiver Wayne Blackwell's 38-yard reception from QB Stadford Brown that took the ball to the ECSU 34 with five seconds remaining. After a timeout, Gilbert came on and his attempt cleared the cross-bar with room to spare, stunning ECSU and sending the Eagles into a joyous celebration.

The field goal was the only Eagles' score in the second half after they grabbed a 14-7 lead at the break.

They opened the scoring on their second possession of the game needing just one play to do it as RB Greg Pruitt went off right tackle for 54 yards, the longest scoring run in CIAA title game history. Gilbert's PAT put the Eagles up 7-0.

Two possessions later ECSU answered with a 10-play, 81-yard drive that started late in the first quarter and culminated less than two minutes into the second quarter on a two-yard run by RB Brandon Fields. The key play in that drive was a pass interference call on NCCU DB Craig Amos that gave the Vikings first-and-goal at the NCCU 2. Kevin Dodson's PAT tied the score at 7.

The Eagles took the lead again just :23 before halftime on Jeff Toliver's three-yard run. The score followed ECSU's only turnover of the day, LB Andre George's pick of a Curtis Rich, Jr. aerial at the Viking 48 with 1:29 left in the half. Brown's 30-yard completion to Charles Futrell got the ball to the ECSU 3.

ECSU didn't get the equalizer until early in the fourth quarter when Rich sneaked in from one-yard out. The 8-play drive that covered 26 yards was set up by safety Dwight Richardson's interception, the Vikings second second-half pick of Brown, late in the third quarter.

Between those scoring drives the teams traded jabs with no one able to land a knockout punch. Pruitt and Fields were the main weapons for their teams and earned game MVP honors for their efforts. Pruitt rushed for 117 yards on just 13 carries. Fields was more of a workhorse, tallying 116 yards on 29 carries. Brown, the CIAA offensive player of the year, struggled, often over-throwing receivers but still completed 19 of 36 passes for a title-game record 223 yards with the two picks. Blackwell was Brown's favorite target, hauling in six passes for 96 yards. Rich hit on only eight of his 21 passes for 81 yards.

Both teams should get bids to the playoffs though ECSU will be on pins and needles awaiting the announcement of the 24-team playoff field Sunday (Nov. 12, 1 pm on ESPNews). Last week, NCCU was ranked third and ECSU fourth in the Div. II Southeast Region. Six teams from the region will make the championship field. ECSU's losses are to Newberry, who entered this week as the region's top team, and NCCU.

"We still got some more football to play," said ECSU head coach Waverly Tillar, named the CIAA coach of the year based on his team's turnaround from a 2-8 finish a year ago. "We can't get down on ourselves. We've got to keep our mind into it, keep focused. Let the voters vote what they may. If we're in the playoffs, fine. If we're in the Pioneer Bowl, fine. But I really feel we should be in the playoffs. Our only two losses came to the No. 1 team in the region and to the No. 3 team in the Region in the final seconds. I think that speaks a lot for the voters that sit around the table to consider us a playoff contender."

"It would be a crying shame if those boys (ECSU) don't get into the Div. II playoffs," said Broadway. ""It would be a disgrace if that team is not in the playoffs."