Nothing lucky about Johnson C Smith’s 7-0 start

DONALD WATKINS | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith defenders Ja'Qun Wilkins (21), Jack Smith (2) and Christian Hanks converge on Shaw receiver Maceo Wingate in the Golden Bulls' 21-14 win Oct. 19 at McGirt Field. The win is the Golden Bulls' (7-0, 4-0 CIAA school-record ninth straight in regular season games and keeps them atop the CIAA standings.

Johnson C. Smith wasn’t at its best for homecoming, but no one’s complaining about the result.

The Golden Bulls set new school standards in Saturday’s 21-14 win against Shaw in a CIAA at a packed Eddie McGirt Field. Smith, which improved to 7-0, their best start to a season since 1969, also extended their regular season win streak to a school record nine games. The Golden Bulls also handled adversity by falling behind for the first time this season but recovered with a record-setting game from receiver Brevin Caldwell and a pair of second-half defensive stops to turn Shaw (4-4, 2-3) away.

“We won the game, and we played well in spots, but I want to give all credit to coach [Adrian] Jones … for having his football team ready to play,” JCSU coach Maurice Flowers said. “It was a similar situation last year where they were coming off a loss and we were playing good ball when we went up to Shaw for their homecoming, we’re up 10-0 and they fought back and won.”

The Bears gave Smith (4-0 CIAA) plenty of reason to be concerned. Shaw went ahead on the game’s first possession and were tied at 7-7 at intermission before the Golden Bulls scored the next 14 points, capped by Hough High graduate) Darius Ocean’s 20-yard strike to Caldwell with 4:12 left. Shaw didn’t quit, though, scoring on Travon Tensley’s 1-yard plunge with 2:18 to go.   

After a Smith three-and-out, Shaw marched from its 15 with 1:35 left to the Golden Bulls’ 37 with 38 seconds when JCSU forced a turnover on downs to end the threat. It was the third time Smith preserved a one-score lead on the final possession.

“Our coaching staff, they raise the bar for us each week,” said linebacker Banari Black, who led the Golden Bulls with 15 tackles (eight solo). “It’s not just we’re compared to each week; we try to raise the bar each and every week. The standard is the standard. We’re trying to shut teams out, just keep doing what we do, but it starts at practice.”

Caldwell set a new standard by grabbing a school-record 15 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown as Ocean’s primary target. Caldwell set career bests for receptions with 59 and touchdowns with eight. JCSU needed that productivity after Shaw limited the Golden Bulls to a season-low 60 yards rushing, but they did enough right to overcome.

“It feels good, but we’re not satisfied,” said Caldwell, whose 833 receiving yards is 101 shy of setting the single season mark set by Craig Brown in 2002. “The job’s not finished yet.”

That means correcting mistakes ahead of next week’s game at Winston-Salem State, which rolled Livingstone to stay within shouting distance of JCSU and Virginia Union, which are 4-0 in the CIAA. The Golden Bulls’ 7-0 start is another step in Flowers’ long-term vision of a sustainable winner.

“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We’re taking strides. When we say change the program around, that’s going to take years of consistent winning, and that’s what we’re focused to do. Our first year was our foundational year; the second year 7-3 and a bowl game and then this year to be 7-0 and ranked in the top 25 – No. 20 in AFCA [poll] – and first in the CIAA, it feels great.

“We have set the goals high for us this year. We feel like we have to get back to work and keep building but it’s going to take a few years of some high caliber [winning] records before we’ll say we’ve turned it all the way around.”

Said Ocean, who completed 24-of-32 passes for 265 yards and three scores, the fourth time he’s done that in a game: “We get better every week. Every week we find something we need to work on. Every week I find something I need to work on …throughout the whole week. That’s what we do – we focus on what we need to get better at.”

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The announced attendance of 5,387 at 4,500-seat McGirt Field didn’t go unnoticed. In addition to the standing-room-only turnout, tailgaters and passersby watched outside the stadium’s fencing.

“I don’t look into the crowd when we’re playing,” Flowers said. “But I happened to see the crowd, and this is our third season, and I can’t remember seeing the whole stadium full like that. Then our AD got extra bleachers and those were almost full, then you look up top around the fence. I haven’t seen a crowd like that before to witness a JCSU football game. It’s a credit to so many who’ve worked so hard – the administration, our coaching staff, our players. … This was an outstanding crowd.”

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