JCSU will clash with Miles College on Saturday, December 3, 2011 in the 13th Pioneer Bowl
Tickets Available Here
PIONEER BOWL football tickets can be purchased at the JCSU Ticket Office in Biddle Hall (3rd Floor) or call 704-378-1145. Tickets can also be purchased at the game.
Columbus, GA – The Johnson C. Smith University football team has accepted the invitation to participate in the 13th Pioneer Bowl to be held Saturday, December 3rd at A.J. McClung Stadium in Columbus, Georgia at 1:00 p.m. (EST). JCSU will face Miles College from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) as the road team in this match-up.
The Pioneer Bowl is the only NCAA sanctioned bowl game involving HBCU athletic conferences and one of only three sanctioned bowl games in Division II. Started in 1997, the game features teams from the CIAA and the SIAC. Last year, Saint Augustine's College (CIAA) trumped Fort Valley State University (SIAC), 20-9.
JCSU closed out the regular season with a 31-0 victory against Livingstone College in the annual Commemorative Classic. The win moved the Golden Bulls to third in the CIAA Southern Division with 5-5 overall record and 4-3 in the conference mark.
This is the first non-losing season for Johnson C. Smith since 2006. That year, JCSU finished 7-3 in the standings and received a Pioneer Bowl bid. Unfortunately, even with the game played in Charlotte, NC, Tuskegee won the game 17-7. Until now, that has been the only bowl game appearance for the Golden Bulls.
Miles College, led by Head Coach Reginald Ruffin, finished first in the SIAC West Division with a 5-2 record in conference play. The Golden Bears won their first SIAC Championship by defeating Albany State University to finish with a 7-4 overall record.
A bowl game victory would be the icing on the cake of a reinvigorated year of JCSU football. Head coach
Steven Aycock led his squad to their first winning conference record in five seasons. Aycock was elected CIAA Coach of the Week three times this season.
On the field, CIAA Offensive Rookie of the Year quarterback
Keahn Wallace (Homestead, FL) has led the Golden Bulls and the conference in yardage. Wallace led the CIAA in total offense, while completing more than 58 percent of his passes and throwing for 1,946 yards with 16 touchdowns. He also averaged 48.4 yards per game running the ball to go with five rushing touchdowns. Wallace averaged 264.7 yards of total offense per game, leading the category by more than 23 yards.
Three Golden Bulls were also named to the All-CIAA Football teams in each faucet of the game. Junior defensive end
Derrick Johnson II (Charlotte, NC) earned first team honors with a fourth ranked 9.5 sacks. Senior punter
Tyler Rabb (Shelby, NC) was a first team selection with a league leading 41.3 yards per punt average. Sophomore right tackle
Rico Arellano (Charlotte, NC) picked up second team honors as a keystone starter on the offensive line.
This year will mark the 13th installment of the bowl game and its second appearance in Columbus. Atlanta, GA, Mobile, AL, Charlotte, NC, and Columbia, SC, (2009) have all served as host cities to this historic game. Institutions from the SIAC have a 9-3 bowl record against the CIAA. Tuskegee College has participated in this contest nine times. Winston-Salem State beat the Tigers in 1999 (23-7) and Shaw tackled Tuskegee in 2004 (30-28).
About the SIAC
Founded in 1913, the SIAC is comprised of thirteen historically black colleges and universities (Albany State, Benedict, Claflin, Clark Atlanta, Fort Valley State, Kentucky State, Lane, LeMoyne-Owen, Miles, Morehouse, Paine, Stillman, and Tuskegee) located within a five state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee). For conference information visit,
www.TheSIAC.com.
About the CIAA
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), founded in 1912, is the nation's first historically black college and university athletic conference. It is currently comprised of twelve colleges and universities located in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. For conference information please visit,
www.TheCIAA.com.
