VUU, VSU games back on schedule this Saturday
Fred Jeter | 9/20/2018, 6 a.m.
CIAA football has weathered the storm.
After hitting the pause button last week as Hurricane Florence left a path of destruction through North Carolina, the historically black athletic conference will resume activities Saturday, Sept. 22, with seven games to be played in the Tarheel state.
Virginia Union University Athletic Director Joe Taylor said all systems are go following a conference call of athletic directors on Monday.
VUU, 1-1 under first year Coach Alvin Parker, will travel to Winston-Salem State University, also 1-1, for a 6 p.m. game this Saturday at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Defending CIAA champion Virginia State University, 0-2, is headed to Charlotte, N.C., to face Johnson C. Smith University, 0-2. That game also will be 6 p.m. Saturday.
VUU’s game at Johnson C. Smith University and VSU’s game against St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, N.C., both of which were slated for last Saturday, are unlikely to be rescheduled.
“We don’t have bye weeks in the CIAA,” Taylor said. “It would be difficult to squeeze in a makeup.”
The only convenient time for a makeup would be after the regular season, which ends Nov. 3. But the CIAA championship game is Nov. 10 and NCAA playoffs start Nov. 17.
“It would send the wrong message to schedule a game that would conflict with the postseason,” Taylor said.
At this stage, all teams plan on heading to Salem on Nov. 10 for the CIAA title showdown.
