By Perry Green
AFRO Sports Writer

It was a long time coming.  But when Bowie State finally saw action at home, after playing their first five games of the season on the road, they didn’t disappoint.

The Bulldogs (2-3 overall, 1-3 conference) beat up the Lincoln Lions, 28-2, in the 5th Annual Prince George’s County Classic on Oct. 5 at Bowie, Md.
Despite being crushed, it was also a long time coming for many Lincoln grads of the Maryland area, as they had never seen a Lincoln football team take the field before.

For the first time in 48 years, Lincoln University, the oldest historically Black university in the country, finally has a football team again.

Unfortunately for the Lions, Bowie State had no mercy for Lincoln in their home opener.  In a game filled with mistakes, the Bulldogs made the most of scoring opportunities provided by turnovers.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the first quarter, Bowie State locked down Lincoln’s offense, allowing just 64 total yards and no touchdowns.
The Bulldogs would make mistakes on offense, but every time they turned over the ball, their defense responded by forcing turnovers to regain possession.
With their defense playing strong, Bowie State simply relied on their running game to generate offense, as tailback Rodney Webb led the Bulldogs with a game-high 91 yards on just nine carries, including a 40-yard touchdown run in the first half.  Bowie State senior tailback Isaac Redman added 87 yards on 22 carries, and also scored on a one-yard touchdown run.

The Bulldogs controlled the tempo of the game with their rushing attack, totaling 243 rushing yards and holding onto the ball for 39 total minutes of the game.
BSU head coach Mike Lynn says his team’s lopsided performance is the result of a little extra preparation over the week.  "We practiced a little longer than normal this week,” said Lynn. “We wanted to prepare and try to avoid as many mistakes as possible.”

The Bulldogs were able to avoid enough mistakes to get the P.G. Classic win, but they also realized they’ll have to prepare even harder this week if they wish to have similar success in their homecoming against Elizabeth City College (3-3 overall, 3-0 conference) this coming Saturday.

“It was good to get a win going into our homecoming, but this game is also good for preparation going into next Saturday,” Lynn explained, as his team will take on the top-ranked team of the Central Interscholastic Athletic Association (CIAA) Eastern Division.  “This game allowed us to see some of the mistakes we need to fix and areas we need to improve on.  And we must improve over the week in order to have success again.”