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Any Given Sunday
Sports
Tin; VoK K, For Studc'iits, Bv Students 9
By DeSean Lawson
Week three of the NFL season began with
defending Super Bowl champions The New
York Giants, defeating the Carolina Panthers
36-7 on Sept. 20. The Giants were led by
two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Eli
Manning. Manning went 27-35, 288 passing
yards and one touchdown. Although Newton
threw for 242 yards and had a six-yard rushing
touchdown, the Giants front four dominated
and frustrated Cam Newton all night. The Gi
ants front four picked off Newton three times
and held him to a horrific 53 percent comple
tion percentage for the game.
There were a few surprising games
on Sunday as well. Prior to the season the
Arizona Cardinals didn't even know who their
starting quarterback was going to be. First
game of the season the Cardinals defeated the
Seattle Seahawks 20-16 after starting quar
terback John Skelton got injured and backup
quarterback Kevin Kolb came in and save the
day. The following week the Cardinals and
backup quarterback Kevin Kolb upset Tom
Brady and the Patriots 20-18. So coming into
this game the Cardinals were very confident.
The Cardinals improved their record to 3-0
after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 27-6.
Kolb went 17-24, 222 passing yards and two
touchdowns. The Cardinals defense held Mi
chael Vick to 17-37, 217 passing yards and no
touchdowns.
The Cardinals win over the Eagles wasn't
the only upset of the day. The Cardinals NFC
West divisional foe the San Francisco 49ers
headed into Sundays matchup with the Min
nesota Vikings as heavy favorites. The 49ers
came into the game on Sunday 2-0 with two
impressing wins over the Green Bay Packers
and the Detroit Lions. The Packers and Lions
were playoff teams last year.
But the Vikings could care less about how
much success the 49ers had the previous two
weeks. The young all-star squad dominated
the 49ers from start to finish. The Vikings de
feated the 49ers 24-13. Second year quarter
back Christian Ponder went 21-35, 198 passing
yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Ponder played a seasoned veteran against the
number one defense in the NFL. The Vikings
defense held the 49ers explosive running game
to just 89 yards rushing. The 49ers came into
the game averaging 206 rushing yards per
game.
Besides all the upsets in week three, all eyes
were on the primetime game Sunday night
which featured the Baltimore Ravens versus
the New England Patriots. This was a rematch
of the AFC championship game last year. The
Ravens defeated the Patriots 31-30 after they
came back from a nine point fourth quarter
deficit. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco ushered
a ten play 70 yard drive which set up the game-
winning 27-yard field goal by Steven Tucker.
Flacco had a marvelous game. Flacco went 28-
40, 382 passing yards, three touchdowns and
one interception. The Ravens and the Patriots
are definitely teams that will be reckoned with
in the AFC come playoff time.
Week three in the NFL was definitely a day
for the underdog and upsets. So just like for
mer NFL Commissioner Bert Bell stated back
in the early 1960"s, “On any given Sunday a
team can be beat in the NFL”.
Anderson and Hawkins Top
Performers At Adidas XC
Challenge
I By Aaron Williams
The Fayetteville State men’s and wom-
) en's cross country teams finished in ninth
.and nth places, respectively, this past
Friday as both teams competed at the Ad-
dias Cross Country Challenge hosted by
NC State University at Wake Med Soccer
' Park.
NC State captured both the men’s and
) women’s competition on Friday with
) North Carolina, East Carolina and West
I Virginia Wesleyan following behind in
second, third and fourth places. On the
men’s side NC State University Club fin
ished fifth followed by St. Augustine’s in
' sixth, Winston-Salem State in seventh and
• Shaw in eighth. The Rams placed fifth on
) the women’s side and were followed by
( Meredith in sixth, NC State University
) Club in seventh. Queens in eighth, St. Au-
I gustine’s in ninth and Shaw in 10th.
Ernest Hawkins, for the second straight
' meet, was the leading finisher for the
Broncos, as he placed 50th with a time of
17:25.2. Douglas Jackson was the second
I leading finisher for Fayetteville State with
) a 54th place finish and a time of 17:40.7,
) while Ervin Brinkley finished 89th and
a time of 20:56.1. Anthony Mullen and
Taron Sanders finished back-to-back in
92nd and 93rd places for the Broncos as
Mullen posted a time of 21.38.8 and Sand
ers 21:52.0. Brandon Elmore and Andrew
Brassard rounded out the competition for
Fayetteville State as Elmore finished 97th
with a time of 22:26.4 and Brassard 100th
at 25:13.9.
Amanda Anderson was also the wom
en’s top finisher for the second consecu
tive week as she placed 106th with a time
of 25:07.9. Nia Trawick was the second-
highest finisher for the Broncos with a
117th place finish and time of 26:58.4,
while Renee Guesehard ran a 27:46.9 for
a 120th place finish. Rachael Hays, Chi-
quanna Anderson and Brittany Wilkins
were the final finishers for Fayetteville
State as Hays finished 122nd, Anderson
126th and Wilkins 127th. Hays recorded
a time of 28:07.4, Anderson ran a 30:23.7
and Wilkins posted a 30:51.2.
The Broncos will return to action on
Friday, Sept. 28 as they travel back to
Cary, NC for the HBCU Challenge at 9
Courtesy f»/yahoo^ports.com
Left: Cardinals OLB Daryl Wash
ington sacking QB Michael Vick
Courtesy of canada.Com
Right: Vikings QB Christian Pon
der scores a rushing ID
Courtesy o/fsubroncos,coin
Nia Trawick Sept. 17 Cross Country
FSU Volleyball suffers first losses at JCSU Invitational
By Aaron Williams
The Fayetteville State volleyball team
dropped its first matches of the 2012 cam
paign on Friday afternoon to USC-Aiken
and Armstrong Atlantic State during day one
of the Johnson C. Smith Invitational Tourna
ment at Brayboy Gymnasium.
The Lady Broncos fell to the Pacers 3-0
(19-25, 21-25, 23-25) and 3-1 to the Pirates
(13-25, 25-20, 11-25, 16-25).
Fayetteville State falls to 7-2 on the sea
son, while USC-Aiken improves to 7-5
overall and Armstrong Atlantic State is now
10-3. The Lady Broncos will conclude play
at Johnson C. Smith on Sept. 22 as they face
the Golden Bulls at 3 p.m.
Joi Emanuel (Sr., Charlotte, NC) led Fay
etteville State in game one with eight kills,
while Ifeyinwa Nwokolo (Sr., Greensboro,
NC) added seven kills. Joylene Thompson
(Jr., Spanish Town, JA) and Jessica Hardy
(So., Fayetteville, NC) also contributed five
kills a piece.
The Lady Broncos quickly fell behind
USC-Aiken in the first set 6-0, but would
work their way back to a two-point defi
cit at 9-7. It would be as close as the Lady
Broncos got in the opening set as the Pacers
would go on an 11-3 run and pace their way
to a first-set victory.
Both teams traded points back-and-forth
early in the second set with the scored tied
8-8 before USC-Aiken went ahead by three
at 12-9 and never trailed from that point
on. Fayetteville State kept itself within four
points of the Pacers, but could never get any
closer as the set moved forward.
The final set saw both teams within three
points or less of each other, with the Lady
Broncos leading on three different occa
sions. After a kill by Emanuel and attack er
ror by Shannon Byers put Fayetteville State
ahead 21-19, USC-Aiken tied the set at 22-
22, but Emanuel put the Lady Broncos back
in front 23-22. From there the Pacers scored
the final three points of the set to take the
match from Fayetteville State.
In game two against the Pirates, Eman
uel posted a team-high seven kills while
Thompson, Hardy and Nwokolo had four
kills each.
Armstrong Atlantic State led the entire
first set over the Lady Broncos and had a
lead as big as 11 points at 20-9, while Fay
etteville State responded to take the second
set and tie the match I-l. The Lady Broncos
trailed late in the second set 18-16, but ran
off a string of five straight points off serves
from Alea Jones (Jr., Charlotte, NC). The
Pirates trimmed their deficit to one at 21-20,
but Fayetteville State closed off the set scor
ing the final four points.
Armstrong Atlantic State responded in
the final two sets as the Lady Broncos never
held a lead. The Pirates went ahead 10-3 in
the third and then, at 16-8, went on a 9-3
run to take the set. The fourth set saw Fay
etteville State hold a 13-10 lead midway
through the set, but Armstrong Atlantic State
would hold the Lady Broncos to just three
more points along the way.
The Lady Broncos however, remain un
defeated in the Conference and will take on
ClAA rival Elizabeth City State on Septem
ber 29th at 1pm.
Voice Photo By: Rastieed McLain
Taylor Norris (3-Midclle Blocker)
spikes the ball over the net to score
a point for the Lady Broncos during
the Sept. 18 UNC-P game.
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