Heading into the 2011 football season few people are questioning Elizabeth City State’s ability to score points. The biggest question is how the Vikings will manage to stop opposing teams with the loss of Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year Malcolm Jenkins.

CIAA coaches think the Vikings will do just fine as they have picked the team to win the Northern Division in their annual preseason ranking.

The regard for ECSU’s offense is shown in the preseason All-CIAA team, where five Vikings were selected, four from the offensive side of the ball. Two Elizabeth City native lead the way in senior quarterback Creven Powell and junior running back Daronte McNeill, who set a school record last year with 1,321 yards rushing. In addition, senior offensive linemen Baron Coffin and Bryan Garnett made the team, along with senior defensive end Larry Jones.

The Vikings tied Shaw and Winston-Salem State with five players each on the All-CIAA team.

“We talk about all of our accomplishments on a daily basis,” associate head coach and offensive coordinator Alvin Parker said. “Over the last five years, we’re 29-6 in conference play. We talk about we’ve won two divisions and tied for another one. We talk about all the players that we’ve had named All-CIAA. But we also talk about how many championships we’ve won. That’s none. That’s the biggest thing on us.”

If the coaches’ predictions turn out to be correct, ECSU would face Shaw in the CIAA championship game in November.

Shaw defeated Virginia State in last year’s title game 14-7. The Bears have won three of the past four championships, including 2008, when they beat ECSU in the finale.

Following ECSU in the Northern Division, the coaches selected Virginia State, Bowie State, Virginia Union, Chowan and Lincoln. The Southern is led by Show, followed by Winston-Salem State, St. Augustine’s, Fayetteville State, Johnson C. Smith and Livingstone.

“Whoever beat us last year, those are the teams to beat this year,” said Parker of a list that includes Virginia State, Bowie State and Shaw. “We know we can play with anybody. Everybody is going to be a challenge for what we’ve been doing the past couple of years. We’re a signature win for everybody now, it seems. Everybody has an asterisk next to that Elizabeth City game because they know we’re going to come to play.”

Last year, ECSU, which scored 29.1 points per game while allowing 21.1, went 6-4 (5-2 in the conference) and returns eight starters on offense and five on defense. “We have some talent right there (on defense), but we have a lot of new guys and all the guys that had the big numbers are gone,” Parker said. “They are not as proven as they were before, but I think we’ll be pretty good on defense. They had a good spring and added a couple of guys that were redshirts and guys that have grown in the program last couple of years.”

ECSU opens the season at Delta State on Aug. 27.