Staff report
SALISBURY — It’s understating things to say the road was unkind to the Livingstone Blue Bears football team.
LC’s promising 3-1 start turned into 3-4 with lopsided losses at Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State, but the Blue Bears finally will play again at Alumni Memorial Stadium this Saturday and will be expected to right the ship.
Livingstone hasn’t played at home since it battered Lincoln 31-7 on Sept. 27.
Saturday’s opponent is one of those games you schedule when you’re looking for a non-conference win. The Dragons of the University of Virginia at Lynchburg, also known as VUL, will be coming to Salisbury.
Kickoff is at 2 p.m. There’s always a theme for Livingstone home games. This one is a Pink Out to support breast cancer research.
Tim Newman Sr. wears a multitude of hats at VUL — athletic director, head football coach, offensive coordinator. He’s been head coach since 2021.
He’s had many previous encounters with Livingstone as a player. He was a star running back at Charlotte’s Olympic High and J.C. Smith in the 1980s and had success against the Blue Bears.
Not only will Newman be appearing, he’ll be bringing two sons. Tim Newman Jr. and Jacob Newman were once a powerful running back tandem for J.C. Smith, but now they are VUL Dragons.
The rest of the VUL roster isn’t expected to be as good as the Newmans. Livingstone is favored by 26 points by the Massey Ratings and will take a 95 percent win probability into the game.
VUL (2-5) rallied to edge Bluefield 43-42 and routed the Gladiators of South Carolina Central Christian on homecoming. VUL didn’t have many options for homecoming. The Dragons play a schedule that is almost entirely on the road.
