ETTRICK, VA – Coming off of a convincing win against St. Augustine's University, the Trojans expect to bottle that momentum and take it into the weekend against the Viking of Elizabeth City State University. The game will kick-off on October 9, 2021 at 6:00pm at Rogers stadium in Ettrick, Virginia.
ECSU at VSU |
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Virginia State found their stride offensively a week ago while the stingy defense continued to show their dominance. For the second time this season, the VSU defense shut out their opponents in the second half, which led to a, 33-9 victory, for the Trojans, which make them 1-1 in the CIAA and 1-3 overall. The Virginia State offense looked to be more confident in the Week five matchup as they were able to set a new season-high in total yards with 358 after covering only 152 yards against FSU. ECSU also enters the weekend coming off of a, 19-13, win against Livingstone College that moved them the 2-0 in conference. The Vikings lost to Fayetteville State, 47-6, week one yet, the past two weeks they have given up just 13.5 points per game while winning both games.
Virginia State leads the series 10-4 over the Vikings with a 5-0 home record. The last matchup saw VSU take down ECSU, 54-21, on the road in week six of 2019.
Jevon LaPierre had three garbs for 97 yards while
Javon Frazier amassed 1.5 sacks with six tackles in the afternoon contest.
Offensively, the Trojans have a tall test ahead against an ECSU defense that is coming off a six-sack game against Livingstone. Despite the challenge ahead, this VSU offense found a spark behind
D'Vonte Waller who passed for 295 yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut.
Demetrius Strickland leads the rushing attack with more than five yards per carry and proves to be threat in the passing attack as he caught the most passes from the backfield this season.
Tylin Oden will make his return after serving a one-game suspension after being involved in an altercation at FSU.
Roy Jackson, III caught the season's first touchdown while,
Marquez Phillips leads the team in catches (12) and yards (140). The Vikings will likely look to keep the ball out of the hands of
Andre Jackson as he is ranked 15
th in the nation is kickoff return yards averaging 28 yards per return. The offensive line will have a great test ahead of them as they face a defense that has 32 tackles-for-loss so far in the season.
The VSU defense is poised to have another dominant performance with the Vikings allowing 10 sacks while the VSU defense has accumulated 13 sacks on the season.
Javon Frazier (7) and
Adonte Braxton (3.5) remain at the top of the conference in sacks as Frazier had back-to-back sacks a week ago and ranks eighth in the nation.
Zion Johnson leads the linebackers with 24 tackles on the season with 13 tackles coming against FSU. 30 tackles ranks
Will Adams tenth in the conference with 7.5 tackles per game so far this season. The secondary has been solid all season accounting for 11 pass break ups with an interception. The VSU defense has forced and recovered a fumble in three of four games on the season and will look to keep the streak alive leaving Rogers stadium Saturday night.
For Elizabeth City State, the offense has thrown a touchdown is every game of the season averaging 201 passing yards per game and 11 touchdowns on the year. The receiving core leads the ECSU offense as four players have reached over 100 yards in five games. Cameron Sanders leads the group with 29 receptions for 327 yards and has a touchdown in the last three games. His partner-in-crime, Brandon Joyner, leads the team with four touchdown catches. Joyner had an 80-yard catch and run against Bluefield State and serves as the team's primary punter with five punts that have landed inside to 20 yard line. Kevin Caldwell will be in command of the offense as he has accounted for 10 total touchdowns with 778 yards through the air. Raevon Freeman has brought down opposing quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage five times on the season. Taeyonn Reynolds is one of the most dangerous defensive backs in the conference as he is second on the team in tackles along with three interceptions, three pass breakups and three forced fumbles.
*In order to attend the game, fans must be fully vaccinated (with a valid vaccination card) and one form of identification.
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