JC Smith football drops regular-season finale, ending Charlotte school’s historic year

Johnson C. Smith football’s historic regular season has culminated in a second consecutive loss.

The Golden Bulls of uptown Charlotte came up on the wrong side of their 15-10 season finale on the blue turf field at Livingstone College on Saturday afternoon.

J.C. Smith — which dropped two straight after starting 8-0 for the first time in school history — rallied late, and the Bulls had a chance during the final minutes. Quarterback Darius Ocean led a strong fourth-quarter scoring drive that kept it close, but then an interception just before the two-minute timeout sealed it.

With the loss, J.C. Smith fell short of a berth in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship, for which it had last qualified in 1972.

Virginia State, which entered the day seeded below the Golden Bulls, took down top-ranked Virginia Union in Petersburg, Va., on Saturday afternoon. That sets up next week’s CIAA football championship game between the Trojans and Panthers, knocking out J.C. Smith.

There’s still a chance that the Golden Bulls (8-2) are selected for a bowl game, but they won’t be playing next week in the conference title game.

“I’m so proud of what we have done in such a short time with the program,” head coach Maurice Flowers, who grew up in Charlotte and starred for J.C. Smith, said Saturday. “In the past 40 years, Johnson C. Smith has averaged 2.3 wins a year. The first year was a building year, last year to go to a bowl, and this season, to do so many things that were unprecedented.

“Having the courage to buy into Johnson C. Smith University, it’s really tough in recruiting to go someplace that doesn’t have a history of winning. And you buy into that vision, I’m just so proud of our young men who we’ve recruited.”

‘This is gonna make us a better program’

It was another long day for J.C. Smith’s offense.

Tied 3-3 at halftime, there weren’t many successful offensive sequences throughout the afternoon. The Blue Bears (5-4) finally found the end zone with a 55-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, then missed the extra point to keep it a six-point game.

Livingstone marched down the field early in the fourth quarter and scored once again. It didn’t convert the two-point conversion attempt, but maintained a commanding late lead over the Golden Bulls.

J.C. Smith finally found the end zone with about five minutes left in the fourth; Ocean connected with defensive lineman Keion Joyner for the crucial late score, making it 15-10.

“The way that we finish the season, it’s gonna really lead to a great offseason,” Flowers said. “We already know what the offseason mantra is going to be: ‘Finish.’ And as the head coach, I take all responsibility. For two weeks in a row, I didn’t get my guys ready to go, and as the offensive coordinator as well, I just didn’t get it done.

“I didn’t push the right buttons and get us going offensively. … I’m going to get better too, and this is gonna make us a better program. Yes, we should be upset, because we did have big goals, but to be in the driver’s seat to be in the championship game. It’s all about finishing, and it’s going to do us some good.”

Notable

▪ Livingstone College is coached by Sean Gilbert. The former Carolina Panthers defensive tackle has been at the helm of the private HBCU in Salisbury since 2020.

▪ While unranked, the Golden Bulls received 74 votes in the latest AFCA Division II coaches’ poll after dropping out of the national Top 25.

▪ This season still marks J.C. Smith’s first eight-win season since 1975.

They said it

“We thank (J.C. Smith fans) for the ride,” Flowers said. “Thank them for the ride going with us as we started this season off, each win, just looking back at so many great things we did early in the season — as I think back on it, we had some away games where our fans outnumbered the home fans. Just want to thank the fans for getting behind us.

“And they can count on a better Golden Bull team in ‘25.”