ELIZABETH CITY, North Carolina --Led by a crushing defensive performance that kept the Elizabeth City State ground attack to 77 rushing yards, Shaw knocked off the Vikings 20-17 on the road Sunday afternoon.

The Bears improved to 1-3 on the year and 1-1 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association play, while the Vikings fell to 1-3 and 0-2.

Patrick Blake led Shaw's passing attack with 149 yards through the air, tossing two touchdowns without throwing an interception.

Sidney Gibbs led all Bears rushers with 62 yards in the contest. Jatoine Fields also added 39 yards and one touchdown on the ground, averaging 9.8 yards per carry.

Blake's most prolific target in the ballgame was Jon Barnes, who caught four passes for 47 yards while Ah'shaan Belcher found the endzone twice. 

Jaden Jones paced the Shaw defensive effort, totaling four tackles and one interception. Cole McKinney added one interception and Malik Charles had 12 tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one sack in the win.

The Bears won the turnover battle in Sunday's game, forcing two turnovers while avoiding any giveways, with Shaw turning those takeaways into 13 points.

Shaw's defense held up against Elizabeth City State's offense, giving up 314 total yards. The Bears defense disrupted the Elizabeth City State passing game on the way to pulling down two interceptions and breaking up seven Vikings passes.

Shaw scored first and opened a 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game with a highlight run from Fields .Another Bears score then expanded the lead to 13-0.

Shaw kept Elizabeth City State off the scoreboard and increased its lead to 20-0 with 1:18 remaining in the second quarter. Shaw went scoreless the rest of the game while Elizabeth City State tacked on 17 points to finish off the scoring. Belcher recovered the ECSU onside kick with less than a minute on the clock to seal the victory and end the Vikings comeback attempt. 

» Elizabeth City State outgained Shaw 314-249 in the contest.
» Shaw won the turnover battle 2-0 after picking off two passes.
» The Bears scored first with 10:37 remaining in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Shaw tallied 13 points in the second quarter, accounting for 65% of their total score.
» Charles led the Bears with 12 tackles.
» Shaw went 2-for-4 on fourth down, converting on 50 percent of attempts.
» Shaw got off to a hot start in the contest, putting 20 unanswered points on the board before Elizabeth City State could respond.
 
Up Next

The Bears return home for the first of three straight home games as Shaw hosts Virginia State University in their final cross-division matchup Saturday, September 30. Kickoff is slated for 1 PM inside Durham County Memorial Stadium. Shaw University athletics will also celebrate "Youth Day". For more info, contact the athletic department at 919.719.6336