PHOTO | HERBERT L. WHITE

Livingstone football coach Sean Gilbert (second from right), a former NFL All-Pro defensive tackle who played with the Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders, holds the Commemorative Classic trophy after the Blue Bears’ 26-20 overtime win against J.C. Smith last week in Salisbury.

Livingstone football is taking the steady approach to CIAA relevance.

The Blue Bears capped a 4-6 season with back-to-back victories, including a 26-20 overtime win against rival J.C. Smith in the finale to give them their best campaign in several years. Livingstone went 3-5 in conference games but beating JCSU in the Commemorative Classic gave the Blue Bears reason for optimism going into the offseason.

“It was a hard-fought game on both sides,” Blue Bears coach Sean Gilbert said. “I’m just proud of our guys and we’re proud of our schools and represent what we think is the best game in HBCUs because it was the first game to be played. To be part of that and a part of history is amazing.”

Livingstone leaned on its defense to save the day against JCSU. The Golden Bulls elected to run the ball on fourth and goal from the Blue Bears’ 1 with seven seconds left in regulation, but Livingstone stopped JCSU to force overtime. They did it again in overtime when the Golden Bulls got as close as Livingstone’s 5 before shutting the door.

“If you watched us last year, we came out with big plays. We don’t rank high this year on defense; we’ve got a young team, but these guys are still resilient, they still play hard and I’m just proud of our team. We had an up and down season. But at the end of the day, we came out we had two [wins] in a row and we’ve got a lot to build on.”

A key foundation is the offense, where the skill positions are led by younger players like quarterback Silas Cruse.

“It gives me a whole lot of hope,” said sophomore receiver Matthew Henry, who caught 10 passes for 108 yards and a pair of scores against JCSU. “I’m looking forward to playing on the next level, playing on Sundays [like] coach Gilbert tells me. I just want to come out on top. I’m coming for the conference – I’m making [all-]conference.”

Livingstone still needs to upgrade its roster in the offseason, but the rebuild, especially on defense, is moving forward. Offensively, the Blue Bears will be more mature, too.

“Naturally, we’ll be able to go back to the drawing board in terms of the offense and see where we’re sputtering and then put ourselves in some good positions. But at the end of the day, we’ll evaluate all that stuff then.”

Gilbert, a former NFL All-Pro who played with three teams including the Carolina Panthers, believes he’s on the right track two years into his stint at Livingstone. The Blue Bears have been more competitive than in several seasons and although they don’t have a signature win, they aren’t the worst team in the South Division, either.

“For us, it’s really been a little bit here a little bit there,” he said. “Every game we play when we go back and watch film, we see where we’re making young mistakes, but we’ll do something that’s really, really, nice and something we can build from. [Against JCSU the] offense moved the ball a lot better and took advantage of some mismatches. That’s the things that we can grow on.”

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