Styles make fights in boxing, where opponents with certain traits are tailor-made for championship, but opponents with a different form are threats to the belt holder. The same holds in football, and the adage played out Saturday in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association finale.
Virginia Union’s suffocating defense smothered Fayetteville State’s anemic offense for a 21-10 victory that didn’t seem that close. The Panthers were never seriously threatened after taking a 14-0 lead. They dominated time of possession and won their first CIAA championship in 22 years while ruining FSU’s bid for back-to-back titles.
Virginia Union’s Jada Byers (left) runs for the touchdown against the Fayetteville State defense in the 2023 CIAA Football Championships on Saturday in Salem, Virginia. Virginia Union won 21-10. (Credit: Steven Worthy / USA Today Network)
“I’m just happy, that’s all I can say,” Panthers head coach Alvin Parker said following the game. “I was here in 2001 when we went down to Winston-Salem and won it. I remember how it felt then, but this is a little bit better. I was the leader of the program, and I felt like I was leading us in the right direction, but all of the guys bought into the process, even though it wasn’t easy.”
Moving the ball and scoring wasn’t easy for VUU opponents all season, a trend that didn’t bode well for the defending champions entering the game. The Broncos were mediocre against average defenses this year, and they had no answer against the CIAA’s stingiest unit. The Panthers allowed just 11.4 points per game and gave up the fewest rushing yards in Divison II at 37.3 yards per contest. FSU was held to 36 yards on the ground and 130 yards total, managing just seven first downs.
“It was a championship effort tonight,” Parker, the CIAA coach of the year, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Those guys have played extraordinary all season. The numbers don’t lie.”
VUU halfback Jada Byers was the truth with a season-high 40 carries, good for 135 yards and two touchdowns. He was busy from the outset as VUU took the opening kickoff and set the tone. Byers carried seven times on the Panthers’ 75-yard drive and capped the march with a 1-yard scoring run. His 16-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter was the game’s final tally, following a critical FSU mistake.
After gaining just 59 yards in the first half, the Broncos scored on wideout Barry Elliot’s 91-yard kickoff return a minute before intermission. After receiving the second-half kickoff, Fayetteville State produced another explosive play – a 64-yard pass from backup quarterback Demari Daniels to tight end Kameron King – that led to a field goal, closing the deficit to 14-10.
Fayetteville State’s Tyren Belcher (1) defends the pass to Virginia Union’s Said Sidibe (2) in the 2023 CIAA Football Championships Saturday in Salem, Virginia. (Credit: Steven Worthy / USA Today Network)
VUU went three-and-out on the next possession. But FSU wideout David Baros muffed the punt, and VUU recovered at the Broncos’ 27-yard line, setting up Byers’ second touchdown. FSU gained just 20 yards total on its next four possessions to end the game.
On the season, FSU averaged 260.8 yards and 16.7 points per game, ranked ninth and 10th, respectively, in the CIAA. The first quarter Saturday was a preview of the Broncos’ day ahead: They gained a mere 15 yards and two first downs – both by penalty.
“It’s no secret that we’ve struggled on offense all year,” coach Richard Hayes told The Fayetteville Observer. FSU lost starting quarterback Joe Owens to injury in the second quarter, “and Demari was banged up coming into the game, along with our third-stringer. But we won’t make any excuses because we’ll be back.”
Virginia Union improved to 10-1 overall, 8-1 in the CIAA, avenging its only conference loss. The Panthers will play at Kutztown University, in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs on Saturday. It’s the first playoff bid for VUU since 2015.
FSU (8-3, 8-1 in the CIAA) is done after not receiving a playoff bid. The Broncos have reached six consecutive CIAA championship games but have only last year’s win to show for it.
“I don’t care what anybody says, it’s hard to go to six straight championship bouts,” Hayes said. “Yeah, we’ve lost five of those games, but there are 10 other teams that haven’t been here since I’ve coached in Fayetteville. We’re going to continue to make going to the championship game our goal every single year.”
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