The Langston Lions took on a new opponent, North American University on October 14th. The Stallions, from Houston, Texas, joined the NAIA on July 1, 2022. Women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s track and field play in the Red River Athletic Conference. With football, they play in the Sooner Athletic Conference. They are 1-7 as of October 27, with their only win being against Texas College.
When playing the Lions, NAU lost 40-0, making Langston 4-2 on the year. Not only was this game a blowout, but an especially important game to Na’Em Smith. The sophomore offensive lineman got his first taste of collegiate football during the game. Smith made his debut as a Right Guard in the 3rd quarter, and when Freshman lineman Terrien Burns went down with a cramp, Smith stepped up to center. “It was a wonderful experience, honestly. I mean, I got in kind of late, around the third quarter, but I was able to enjoy, you know, seeing my hard work pay off and actually getting out there and you know, being able to just have a good experience.”
Darius Coppage is a sophomore Broadcast Journalism major from Lawton, Oklahoma. Coppage ranks among the top two in both sacks (3.0) and total tackles (33). “It feels great, you know, getting to go out there and do my thing, especially as an underclassman, and you show like, everybody on the field that, I’m supposed to be here. And you know, hard work pays off and that’s what we do,” Coppage said. A sack occurs when a defensive player tackles the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage as he drops back to pass. During the Homecoming game, Coppage added to his total, gaining 7 tackles with 3.5 of them being for a loss.
For John Goree, this game hits very close to home. Goree is a junior HPER major from Houston, Texas. “Felt good to be playing in front of my parents, my family members, my friends, everybody came out to support, and it was my birthday too. So, I had a great game, and that was exciting for me to get back home.” Goree recalls when critics expressed that Langston was not going to have a good season this year. “We heard all the noise that they were talking, but they aren’t talking noise no more, so we must be doing a pretty good job.”
The Lions have only two games left in the regular season, as they will be fighting for their spot in the playoffs. Their next and final home game will be against Texas Wesleyan on Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.
Jasilyn Spivey
Staff Writer
Jasilyn Spivey is a broadcast journalism and corrections major
Elsewhere in Sports
Women’s Basketball
The Lady Lions will have had their first basketball game of the season on Friday Oct. 27. They travel to Bartlesville Oklahoma to face the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles. The Lady Lions enter the season under Head Coach Kevin Herod in his second year coaching at Langston. The top two leading scorers from the previous season, Hailey Jordan and Kameron Shelley, both return as seniors. Jordan is a Forward that averaged 12.5 points and 6.3 rebounds, the second most on the 22-23 team. Shelley is one of Langston’s guards and averaged 11.8 points with 1.0 assist. Shelley led the team in three point attempts and made. The Lady Lions finished last season 17-13 and made it to the second round of the SAC playoffs.
Men’s Basketball
Mens Basketball will have their first game of the season on November 4 at home against William Woods University. The Lions come into this season ranked No. 4 in the NAIA coaches preseason poll. This makes the Lions the highest rated team in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Last year, the Lions hired Chris Wright, who would go on to win multiple awards in his first year with the lions. Many players from the previous year’s team return including Cortez Mosely and D’Monte Brown The two combined for 722 of the teams points last season.
Kesean Cleveland
Staff Writer
Kesean Cleveland is a senior broadcast journalism major
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The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University.
