ETTRICK, Virginia --Five different players scored touchdowns, led by two scores from Brandon Rose, as Virginia State easily defeated Barton 44-17 on Thursday night inside Rogers Stadium.
The win improved Virginia State's record to 1-0 on the season while the Bulldogs fell to 0-1.
Rahsaan Matthews Jr. led Virginia State's passing attack with 262 yards through the air, tossing two touchdowns and one interception.
Javion Whitfied led all Trojans rushers with 65 yards and one touchdown in the contest, picking up 5.9 yards per carry. Rose also added 51 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Vincent Ordenes reeled in nine catches for 95 yards. Jaylen Pretlow got in on the action in the passing game as well, hauling in five balls for 82 yards. The Trojans also got 51 yards receiving from Nazir McKenzie in the contest.
Kile Artis paced the Virginia State defensive effort, totaling one interception. Ian Wynn added one interception.
Both teams forced two turnovers in Thursday's contest, with Virginia State turning those takeaways into seven points. Virginia State converted on 54.5 percent of third-down attempts on the day.
Defensively, Virginia State held up fairly well against the Barton offensive attack, holding the Bulldogs to 212 total yards. The Trojans kept Barton under 150 yards on both the ground and through the air, allowing 120 passing and 92 rushing yards. The Trojans defense disrupted the Barton passing attack on the way to pulling down two interceptions and breaking up five Bulldogs passes.
Virginia State took care of business in the red zone, scoring six times on six trips inside Barton's 20-yard line, picking up touchdowns on five of those trips.
How It Happened
Virginia State scored first and took a 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game.Barton then tied the game at 7-7 before the Trojans responded with a two-yard touchdown rush from to jump back in front 14-7.
Virginia State then added a field goal with 7:30 left in the second quarter to make it a 17-7 lead.The Trojans continued to extend their advantage after Barton closed the gap to 17-14, scoring again to go on top 23-14.
Virginia State continued to expand its advantage after Barton made it a 23-17 game, scoring again with 13:42 left in the fourth quarter make the score 30-17.The Trojans kept scoring, tacking on a touchdown to extend their advantage to 37-17.
Virginia State held the Bulldogs off the board before scoring for a final time with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter, extending their lead to 44-17. Neither team scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Virginia State outgained Barton 470-212, including a 328-120 advantage through the air.
» The Trojans scored first with 14:17 remaining in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Virginia State had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up 21 points.
» Virginia State converted 6 of 11 third downs while Barton was successful on 5 of 13.
» Virginia State scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns.
» Virginia State went 1-for-2 on fourth down, converting on 50 percent of attempts.
» The Trojans didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» The Trojans ended the game on a strong note, scoring 21 unanswered points to close out the contest.
» Matthews Jr. completed 74.1% of his passes on the day, going 20-for-27 while averaging 9.7 yards per attempt.
» Cam Estep led the Bulldogs passing attack, completing 13 of his 26 attempts for 107 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
» Tyler Davis was Barton's leading receiver with 66 yards and one touchdown.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
