ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. -- The Elizabeth City State University Mighty Viking football team will continue on their five game road trip to start the 2019 season by visiting old CIAA rival North Carolina Central on Saturday afternoon inside of O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 4:00 p.m.

THE BASICS

WHO | Elizabeth City State vs. North Carolina Central

WHEN | Saturday, September 21st at 4:00 p.m.

WHERE | Durham, N.C. (O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium)

SERIES | North Carolina Central leads 20-8

GAME NOTES |     Elizabeth City State            North Carolina Central

HOW TO FOLLOW |    Live Stats              Watch               WRVS 89.9

NOTES ON THE CONTEST

• The Vikings will face off against the Eagles for the first time since 2014 and only the second time since the Eagles made the transition to Division I and the MEAC conference in 2007. The Vikings and Eagles last matchup when both were members of the CIAA was in 2006 when the Vikings lost in the CIAA Championship game.

• The Viking offense found a groove in the second half of the Livingstone contest last Saturday. During the last two drives of the evening, the Vikings scored two touchdowns and moved the ball 59 yards over 10 plays and 43 yards over 11 plays.

• Redshirt Junior Kevin Caldwell came into the contest to lead the Viking offense in the first quarter of play at Livingstone after ECSU starter DeAbrie Smith was injured. Caldwell threw for 98 yards and rushed for an additional 36 at the helm of the Vikings.

• History abounds in this old conference rivalry. North Carolina Central and ECSU started playing each other in 1976 and faced off many of the years in between 1976 and when the Eagles departed the CIAA.

• The Eagles currently hold a 20-8 advantage in the rivalry and are currently on a four game winnings streak in the series. The Vikings last picked up a win in the series back in 2003.

• Junior Taeyonn Reynolds has been the leader of the Viking defensive attack as the junior has registered 11 tackles and a forced fumble during the 2019 campaign.

• NCCU leads the MEAC and ranks fourth in NCAA Division I-FCS with six interceptions. The Eagles are tied atop the conference and fourth in FCS with nine total takeaways.

• Trei Oliver (N.C. Central, 1998) is in his first season as a college head coach. With 20 years of college coaching experience that includes five conference championships and three black college football national titles, Oliver returned to his alma mater as North Carolina Central University's 24th head football coach in December 2018. A native of Yorktown, Virginia, Oliver earned all-conference and all- region honors as a defensive back and punter during his four-year playing career at NCCU from 1994-97. The 1998 graduate later returned to NCCU as an assistant coach from 2003-06, helping the Eagles to back-to-back Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships in 2005 and 2006.

• N.C. Central and Gardner- Webb combined for eight turnovers, with NCCU collecting three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, but the host Bulldogs took better advantage of their takeaways for a 21-12 victory inside Spangler Stadium. NCCU amassed 399 yards of total offense, compared to 342 total yards by GWU, and the Eagles made five trips into the red zone, but had to settle for three field goals by freshman kicker Adrian Olivo, who added a 40-yard boot to account for all 12 points by the Eagles.

• NCCU junior running back Isaiah Totten, the second-leading rusher in the MEAC with 53.7 ground yards per game, is ranked 12th on NCCU's career rushing list with 1,668 ground yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry.