The Mike Tesch era got off to a good start on Thursday night as the University of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä opened its 2025 football season with a 39-10 win over Livingstone at University of ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Stadium at Laidley Field.
The Golden Eagles scored on five of their first six offensive possessions, with quarterback Ean Hamric passing for all five scores, to give Tesch, UC's former offensive coordinator, his first win at the helm.
Hamric completed 20 of 27 passes (74.1%) for 285 yards and finished with five TDs. Hamric was 11 of 16 in the first half (68.8%) for 205 yards and four TDs.
Hamric threw no interceptions, although he was sacked three times.
Yves Bosmans caught six passes for 163 yards and three TDs. Two of Bosmans' scores came in the first half. The third came with 12:46 to play in the fourth quarter on a 26-yard pass to the end zone that Bosmans brought in with one hand.
“Yves and Marquan [Herron] on the outside, I mean we’re in Year 4 with those guys on the outside,†Tesch said. “I’ve coached them the last three years as their position coach and I’m going to miss them mightily when they leave.â€
Herron caught two passes from Hamric for 33 yards and a TD that opened scoring in the second quarter. Caleb Barringer added five catches for 32 yards.
UC already led 7-0 on a TD connection from Hamric to running back Zach Williams that went for 10 yards before Bosmans hauled in a catch, then ran for a 57-yard score that stretched the Golden Eagles’ lead.
Bosmans scored again with 3:39 to play in the first half on a 19-yarder he caught in the end zone that set the halftime score at 27-3 for UC.
Williams, along with Jaylen Butera, Hamric and Justin McDuffie, shared the rushing load for UC's offense. Williams added the Golden Eagles' first rushing TD with a 39-yard run with 1:03 to play in the third quarter that made the score 33-10.
With the 39-yard rushing score, Williams went over the century mark. He finished the game with 114 yards on 19 carries to lead UC. The Golden Eagles rushed for 257 yards as a team.
“As great as Chavon [Wright] was as a player, people forget what he was running behind for three years,†Tesch said, referring to UC's offensive line led by Donovan McCollister. “Everywhere I’ve been calling plays, it’s been a pretty dominant run game.â€
Defensively, Charvez Carter had two sacks to lead the Golden Eagles. Dyson Yuille and DJ James each added one sack.
The Golden Eagles had the only takeaway in the game, a forced fumble and recovery by Montel Campbell. Except for a short-lived third-quarter rally by Livingstone (0-1), UC dominated on that side of the ball also.
The Blue Bears had 15 first downs and were held to 87 rushing yards on 18 carries. Livingstone, playing from behind the entire game, passed 35 times using two quarterbacks.
Livingstone quarterback Alfredo Sotelo completed 16 of his 30 attempts for 174 yards. Eli Alexander was 2 of 5 for 70 yards. The two Blue Bears’ passers were sacked four times by UC.
Running back Dontavius Phillips scored the only TD for the Blue Bears, a 63-yard run, to open the scoring in the second half.
Kicker Jason Zapata connected on a 43-yard field goal in the first quarter that got the Blue Bears on the scoreboard.
“They're seasoned,†Livingstone coach and former NFL All-Pro Sean Gilbert said of UC. “[Tesch] has done a good job, he’s already been in the system, so he’s done a really good job of mixing up everything, especially when we started to catch up on some things.â€
Deno Wardlow led UC with nine tackles.
UC (1-0) will be on the road for its next two games. The Golden Eagles will play next Thursday at California (Pennsylvania) and then on Sept. 13 at West Alabama.
The Golden Eagles will open Mountain East Conference play in their next home game on Sept. 20 against Concord.
