ETTRICK, VA – The Virginia State football team made its home crowd proud a night ago after Coach Henry won big in his first victory as the Trojans Head Coach 28-7. The Trojan defense nearly welcomed the new field turf with a shutout after forcing three turnovers for the second week straight. The Trojan rushing attacked was phenomenal accounting for over 400 yards on the ground. Though the team earned a great team win, Head Coach Henry Frazier still noticed areas his team needs to improve in.


"It's hard to win football games so we'll definitely enjoy this win but there are a lot of things we need to clean up. Too many penalties can be the downfall of a good football team so we definitely have to be more discipline to become the football team we are looking to be."
 
 
Game Information
Score: Virginia State 28, Bluefield State, 7
Records: Virginia State (1-1, 0-0), Blufield State (1-1, 0-0)
Location: Rogers Stadium (Ettrick, VA)
Series:VSU leads 1-0

Inside the Box Score

• Darius Hagans became to the first player in recent history to rush for more than 255 yards as Trenton Cannon rushed for 253 yards on nine carries back in 2017 against Lincoln (Pa.). Hagans ran up and down the new field turf for 261 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. His longest play from scrimmage came on an 86-yard scamper to the endzone.
• The human joystick Kimo Clarke earned a career-high 71 rushing yards and capped his day with a 28-yard touchdown on just five carries.  
• Upton Bailey also saw a career-high rushing for 72 yards on 12 carries.
• Jordan Davis was Mr. Everything as he stepped in his relief role and dazzled completing 50% of his passes for 139 yards and two passing touchdowns while also taking over the kicking and punting duties going 4-4 on extra points. Punting wise, he had two punts land inside the 20 while his first punt of the day was downed on the BSU one-yard line.
• Tylique Ray earned a career-high 69 yards on four grabs while Roy Jackson, III scored his first touchdown of the season on a 27-yard pass from Jordan Davis and ended with three grabs for 44 yards. Carlos Poole caught a touchdown in his Trojan debut after brining in a pair of passes for 46 yards.
• Kymon Pope caught his first interception of the season on the first play from scrimmage out of the halftime break. Pope ended his night with eight total tackles (four solo) along with a pass breakup. Rodney Jones earned his second interception in just two games.
• Zion Johnson earned seven tackles along with 0.5 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble.
• Five different players on the VSU defensive front earned sacks as Marteise Phipps led the pack once again with 1.5 sacks with three total tackles. Freshman Kofi Acheampong and Ahmad Poole earned their first career sacks in the contest.
• The VSU rushing attack earned 401 yards which led two 566 yards of total offense. 
• VSU was only sacked one in the contest and converted 5 of 14 third downs. 

 
 
FIRST HALF

• The first drive of the game for the Trojans showed promise as Darius Hagans broke off back-to-back runs of 16 yards and 23 yards to set the Trojans up in plus territory. The drive was ultimately killed by a high snap over the head of Jabari Blake which resulted in a loss of 13 yards.  
• After a series of stops and three-and-outs, the Trojans offense got rolling again behind the legs of Darius Hagans after he picked up a third and 22 play with a run of 23 yards. He followed that with a run of 31 yards. On the next play, Jabari Blake scrambled down the left sideline for a 20-yard gain. The Trojans gave themselves a fourth and one opportunity one the goaline but were not able to convert it into points which allowed Bluefield to take over on their own one yard line.
• After the Trojans were able to get off the field on third down, they took over with good field position on their own 44. After Darius Hagans earned 13 yards on a rush, Kimo Clarke matched him with 13 yards of his own. Clarke then took his next handoff 28 yards to the endzone to score the first touchdown of the game and the first touchdown on the new field turf in Rogers stadium to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead.
• After the Trojans held the Big Blue scoreless for the next two offensive drives the Trojans started their drive on their own 14. After Jordan Davis entered the game, he delivered a strike down the middle to Tylique Ray for a gain of 38 yards. Ray and Davis had a special connection as the two completed three passes straight for 54 yards in the drive. Davis capped his first drive of the season with a beautiful pass deep down the right sideline to Carlos Poole as he only needed one hand to make the grab for the touchdown. The touchdown allowed the Trojans to extend their lead to 14-0.

 

• The Trojans took the lead into the locker room 14-0.

SECOND HALF

• On the first play from scrimmage out of the halftime break, Kymon Pope stepped in front of a pass on the left sideline and picked it off to give the Trojans to ball in plus territory.
• After the Trojans were unable to convert on third down, the Big Blue got the ball back and moved with a purpose gaining 78 yards on a rush which gave them the ball on the Virginia State 3 yardline following a horse collar penalty by Kymon Pope. When BSU had a third and one opportunity Zion Johnson stripped at the ball to cause a fumble. Unfortunately, the BSU quarterback picked up the fumble and dove into the endzone to give the visitors their first score of the day 14-7.
• Following three-and-outs from each team, VSU took over on their own 14. Darius Hagans found running room on the right side, hit the sideline and ultimately won the foot race to the endzone for an 86-yard rushing touchdown which is longest rush since 2017. The long touchdown run made the score 21-7.
• On the ensuing drive, the VSU defense forced a three-and-out but gained possession of the ball following a muffed punt by Tylique Ray. With the ball in the redzone of the Trojans, the BSU quarterback threw off his back foot which resulted in Rodney Jones catching second interception in just two games.
• The Trojans started the fourth quarter with more points after Jordan Davis tossed a 27-yard pass to the endzone to Roy Jackson, III for a touchdown to make the score 28-7.
• As the Big Blue worked their way down to the Trojans four after receiving a fresh set of downs after VSU ran into the punter, Jamar Frazier jumped on a fumble to essentially end the game giving the Trojans their first win o the season 28-7.

 
Up Next
The Trojans will return to Rogers stadium next weekend to open conference-play against the Falcons of St. Augustine's at 6:00 p.m.