‘They beat our butt:’ Frostburg State takes down JC Smith

MATT LACZKO | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith defensive end Jalen Alexander tackles Frostburg State running back K.J. Smothers in their NCAA Division II playoff game at McGirt Field. Frostburg State won 21-7 to advance to the second round.

The greatest season in Johnson C. Smith football history won’t get an extension.

Frostburg State beat the Golden Bulls 21-7 in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs by controlling the line of scrimmage and forcing mistakes that forced JCSU to play catch-up from the first quarter. The result left the No. 11-ranked Golden Bulls, seeded second in Super Region 1 for their first tournament berth, with a program best 10-2 record and valuable experience for the future.

“Right now, it’s [time] to love up my guys and make sure they understand that it’s supposed to hurt, but then look back on what we’ve done,” coach Maurice Flowers said. “We haven’t had time to reflect on it, but the lessons that we know we’re going to learn, that’s easy to see. We had three turnovers, I believe, if not four. We know that’s one of our things to our formula for success. Three turnovers, you can’t win. And then we had mental errors. We just did some things where we just normally don’t do with mental errors. And then we just did not do our job on a consistent basis.”

Seventh seed Frostburg State (10-2) put its stamp on the game. The Bobcats seized a 14-0 halftime advantage – the first time all season JCSU failed to score in a half – and limited the Golden Bulls to 269 yards on offense, including 50 on the ground. Frostburg State’s pass rush was relentless, sacking JCSU quarterback Kelvin Durham five times and forcing a pair of interceptions. The fatal blow, however, was a fumbled exchange between Durham and Bobby Smith at the Frostburg 29 early in the fourth quarter that killed a potential game-tying drive.

“Frostburg is a great team,” said Durham (18-of-28, 219 yards, TD), who set new JCSU single season records for total offense, touchdown passes, passing yards, and completion percentage. “They have a lot of great players on their team, but I just feel that we hurt ourselves today. Not to make it about myself, but I had four turnovers today. I haven't done that all season and it shows – we lost today – so [I’m] just trying to reflect back and not think about how much bad I did but try to think positive about all the good we did.”

Frostburg State, on the other hand, took care of the ball and controlled tempo via its ground attack, which ground out 188 yards. The Bobcats’ offensive line gashed JCSU’s front seven and K.J. Smothers turned those openings into 122 yards and three scores on 16 carries.

“They beat our butt and it hadn’t happened to our defense all year long,” Flowers said. “We dressed 10 defensive linemen today, and we always pride ourselves on having a rotation. We just didn’t play up to par on a consistent basis. We did some things today that we normally don’t do. They did some good things, but we’re a gap control defense. We had some guys not control their gap, so if you don’t control your gap, there’s free run in there.”

Even with an unceremonious exit, the Golden Bulls are taking lessons into the future. There’ll certainly be roster changes with Durham and top receiver Deandre Proctor (career-best 14 receptions, 139 yards and a score) moving on but the foundation for another run is in place.

“When I was out there with the guys and we shared words, the offseason workouts we’re going to have are going to be incredible,” Flowers said. “The summer workouts we have, they’re going to be incredible because now these guys have set a standard. We have a standard of how we practice, how we go about our business, to keep building on where we are right now. I’m excited. Disappointed for the moment, yes, but excited for the future of the program, because you can't go backwards.”

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