Jim Hart/Contributing Writer
jimhartrealestate@gmail.com

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.
The Chowan Hawks traveled this past Saturday to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to face the Elizabeth City State University Pirates for the ECSU Homecoming in a CIAA Northern Division football contest. There they were met with a huge offense, and had a most difficult time trying to break through the Pirate defense; finally caving in to return home with a 49-33 loss.

As in recent games, the Hawks were able to put points on the board first: this time with a 35-yard field goal by Nick Hahula. This would be the only time the Hawks would hold the lead for the game.

In comparison, the Hawks had a total of 153 net rushing yards compared to the Vikings 295 along with 165 yards passing for the Hawks compared to the Vikings 184 yards through the air. Leading the Hawks in rushing was Ryan Nolan, who alternated between receiver and quarterback and accumulated a total of 21 rushing attempts with 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was followed by Anthony Clanton who rushed 13 times for 43 yards, Reginald Williams 7 for 19 yards and JR Williams who was 1 for 17 yards. Nolan and Dain McFarland shared the quarterback position with Nolan 8-for-16 with 1 interception and 98 yards and McFarland 6-for-10 for a total of 67 yards. Nolan was also sacked 5 times by the Viking defensive powerhouse. Antjuan Randall caught 5 passes for 28 yards with Anthony Clanton catching 3 for 48 yards, JR Williams 3 for 43 yards and Damian Ellis credited with 2 for 22 yards.

With the Hawks trailing 21-13 at the half, the Hawks still had a lot of football left and lots of time to recover. However, the Vikings felt differently and the Hawks were met with a tough 3rd quarter. After ECSU scored their first touchdown with 9:37 left on the clock, they were able to put another in the books with a blocked punt recovered by ECSU Breon Bailey on the CU 17 who ran it in for a touchdown. This was followed by another touchdown by ECSU with 5:20 left in the 3rd quarter. These 21 unanswered points put the Hawks in an impossible deficit to try and overcome. Chowan was able to score a touchdown with 25 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter with a 61-yard touchdown punt return by JR Williams leaving the Hawks trailing 42-20 at the end of the quarter. The Hawks rallied in the 4th quarter with two touchdown rushes by Ryan Nolan, but it wasn’t enough. The Hawks fell on the road 49-33, bringing their season to 1-7, and 0-5 in CIAA play.

This week the Chowan Hawks will travel to Virginia State University with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m.