The event, organized by Young Entrepreneurz Solutions (Y.E.S.) founder Ernest Ruffin, marks another milestone in Ruffin\u2019s mission to spotlight HBCU athletics in unique, international settings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful football field,\u201d Ruffin told HBCU Legends. \u201cThe schools will arrive on the 13th. We\u2019ll have a welcome reception and all that good stuff. On the 14th, both teams will practice in the morning, and after practice, we\u2019re hosting a free clinic where the coaches will teach Virgin Islands high school kids some basic football skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
HBCU CLASSIC – ST CROIX \/ YES<\/p>\n
Leading the Dragons is veteran head coach and athletic director Tim Newman, who also happens to have two of his sons, Tim Newman Jr. and Jacob Newman, suiting up on offense. The family dynamic adds a personal touch to this groundbreaking matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad that God smiled and shined down on our football team to get this kind of exposure,\u201d Newman said. \u201cTo have a chance to play somewhere as warm and beautiful as St. Croix \u2014 and to share that with my sons \u2014 is a grand finale moment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Virginia Lynchburg running backs (l) #1 Jacob Newman and #0 Tim Newman Jr. \/ Coach Newman<\/p>\n
The Dragons will be without standout freshman quarterback Max Zavala, who will miss the trip, but junior quarterback Nico Cleaves and sophomore signal-caller Jabari Ruise are expected to share duties under center when they face the Eagles.<\/p>\n
Newman says his team is focused on balancing business with pleasure. \u201cWe\u2019re super excited about taking care of business first,\u201d he added, \u201cand then we\u2019ll have two days to just enjoy the island. We\u2019re really looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
RB Jacob Newman, Coach Tim Newman Sr., RB Tim Newman Jr. \/ Coach Tim Newman<\/p>\n
The Classic follows Ruffin\u2019s growing track record of bringing HBCU sports to the U.S. Virgin Islands. In December, Y.E.S. will return for the 2025 Virgin Islands HBCU Basketball Tournament, set for Dec. 11\u201315 at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School on St. Thomas. That tournament will feature programs from Southern University\u2013New Orleans, Dillard, Clinton College, Virginia Union, Fort Valley State, Wilberforce, University of Fort Lauderdale, and St. Thomas University.<\/p>\n
Virginia University of Lynchburg enters Saturday\u2019s contest with recent bragging rights, having defeated Fort Lauderdale 42\u201319 in their last meeting on Oct. 14, 2023.<\/p>\n
This time, though, the stakes are higher, and the setting, much sunnier, as two proud programs look to make HBCU football history under the Caribbean sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HBCU FOOTBALL CLASSIC – ST. CROIX: VIRGINIA LYNCHBURG vs. FT. LAUDERDALE | LIVE STREAM End of Q1: Virginia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-47953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}