by Lut Williams
Virginia Union Panthers, tied at 10-10 with the Virginia State Trojans entering the fourth quarter, scored a touchdown in the final period and held VSU to a late field goal to earn a 17-13 win and its second straight CIAA title before a crowd of over 5,000 at the league’s championship game at Salem Stadium Saturday evening.
“Back-to-back, I mean, that’s all I got to say,” said victorious seventh-year VUU head coach Dr. Alvin Parker flanked by five of his players in the postgame press conference. “It just speaks volumes to the work these guys have done all year from the time we left Salem last year (a 21-10 over Fayetteville State in the 2023 title game). All these guys were a part of it and there’s a bunch more guys in the locker room that were a part of that process.
“People always say, you know what, ‘follow the process, trust the process,’ and all those type things. But the process is done by people. So, you’ve got to trust people to make it go. And all these guys made it go and now we can call ourselves back-to-back champions.”
By virtue of the title game win, the Panthers (8-3) were awarded a berth in the NCAA Div. II national playoffs for the second straight year. The 28-team field was announced Sunday evening. VUU is seeded seventh in the seven-team Super Region II bracket and will play at No. 2 seed Wingate (9-1) in an opening round game on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 1 p.m.
VUU record-setting senior running back and workhorse Jada Byers was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player as he rushed for a game-high 178 yards on 32 carries and scored the Panthers’ first touchdown on a 2-yard first-quarter run. The 5-7, 185-pound Byers, who was named the conference’s offensive player of the year on Friday, said the back-to-back titles are a statement on the VUU program
“It don’t mean anything to me, it means something to our program,” said Byers, who has now rushed for a school record 5,690 yards in his decorated four-year career. “Like coach (Parker) always says, ‘we play for 11 (players on the field).’ It’s just a blessing.”
VUU (8-3) got its game-winning score on a 23-yard pass from QB Mark Wright to Reginald Vick Jr. with 10.57 left in the final stanza. The score came after a 32-yard VSU punt gave the Panthers the ball at the VSU 37. On the ensuing drive, VSU (7-4) drove 53 yards in 10 plays to the VUU 7 before settling for a 21-yard Joshua Campbell field goal at the 6:25 mark, relying on its defense to get the ball back.
On its final possession however, VUU ran off 13 plays with Byers gaining 59 yards on 10 carries and churning out three first downs before turning the ball over on downs at the VSU 3 with :27 sec. left.
