The Shaw Bears Welcome Fans with a Shutout Victory
RALEIGH, NC – It was the first home game of the season for the Shaw Bears, and they made sure not to disappoint the home crowd at the George Williams Athletic Complex.
They did so with a 52-0 shutout win over the Central State University Marauders of Wilberforce, Ohio. The Bears dominated the day with 188 passing yards and 487 yards of offense while adding 299 rushing yards.
Sophomore running back Sidney Gibbs (Black Mountain, NC) made sure the Bears got on the board, with a 58-yard run with 12:35 in the 1st Quarter.
“It’s a good feeling. It’s a blessing to finally get our first victory of the season, after two losses in a row,” Gibbs described.
He added, “We have to keep rolling and deal with it,” after describing last week’s loss against Wingate University. Gibbs finished the game with 154 yards and a touchdown.
Also, after the 1st Quarter, Jamesville, NC native, and Sophomore Wide Receiver Ah’shaan Belcher caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Redshirt Freshman Christian Peters (Charlotte, NC) to take a 14-0 lead.
During the 2nd Quarter, the Bears recorded a rushing touchdown from Sophomore running back Andre Brandon, Jr. (Baltimore, MD) for a yard during 5:27 left. Then, they added another score, thanks to nearby Clayton, NC product — Sophomore Wide Receiver Jon Barnes, who caught 4-yard pass from Christian Peters with 21 seconds left to end the first half, to make it 28-0 in Shaw’s favor.
The 3rd Quarter was when Shaw did most of their damage, thanks to a 20-yard touchdown run by Christian Peters, with more than 11 minutes to go. It was followed up with a blocked punt by Jon Barnes and finally, a 23-yard field goal by freshman kicker from Rolesville, NC Devin Versteegen. By the end of the 3rd Quarter, the Bears led 45-0.
“I felt pretty good,” Versteegen said of today’s win. “I didn’t think that there would be much of a point difference. I was just glad to kick extra points and stuff. That was fun” the Rolesville native added.
Sophomore running back Jatoine Fields (Charlotte, NC) sealed the deal in the 4th Quarter, as he added a 1-yard touchdown, which proved to be the final score of 52-0.
Versteegen believed that the Davidson and Wingate games woke plenty of people up. In addition to this, he explained, “It will be a morale booster and the second and third teams getting a lot of reps.”
Shaw Bears Assistant Coach Gilbert Wiggins, who also serves as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, quoted, “We need that win. We’re starting to gel right now. We haven’t played in two years. We have a really good team. We’re getting better and better. By the time we get to conference play, we’ll be firing all cylinders.”
Unfortunately, Central State University could not get any points on the board, thanks to the tenacious defense Shaw displayed throughout the game. Junior Quarterback Siaosi Amaya of Los Angeles, CA, led the Marauders with 104 passing yards, along with Junior running back Said Sidibe of Newport News, VA, racking up 101 rushing yards on nine carries.
Next Saturday, the Shaw Bears travel to Lincoln, PA, to face Lincoln University for their first conference game of the season at 1 PM. On the other hand, Central State University travels to Fairfield, Alabama, to face Miles College at 7 PM next Saturday.