Tied at 14-14 at the end of the third quarter, Virginia State scored 14 fourth-quarter points to earn a 28-14 win against Elizabeth City State on the road Saturday afternoon.
The Trojans improved to 3-1 on the year and 2-0 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association play, while the Vikings fell to 0-3 and 0-1.
Rahsaan Matthews Jr. led Virginia State's passing attack with 264 yards through the air, tossing two touchdowns without throwing an interception. The signal caller also added 31 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Tj Mordecai paced the Trojans rushing attack by accumulating 61 yards over the course of the game, averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Matthews Jr. also added 31 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Matthews Jr.'s most prolific target in the ballgame was Jaylen Pretlow, who caught eight passes for 80 yards and one score. Vincent Ordenes got in on the action in the passing game as well, hauling in six balls for 60 yards. The Trojans also got 51 yards receiving and one touchdown from Kevin Gayles in the contest.
Tristan Mccall led the Virginia State defensive effort, collecting four tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one sack. Mehkhi Johnson added 1.0 TFL and one sack and Jayshaun Alston had 1.0 TFL and one sack in the win.
The Virginia State offense did a good job prolonging drives, converting on 50 percent of third-down attempts. The Trojans also went 2-for-2 on fourth down.
Virginia State's defense held up against Elizabeth City State's offense, giving up 252 total yards. The Trojans kept Elizabeth City State under 150 yards on both the ground and through the air, allowing 145 passing and 107 rushing yards.
How It Happened
Virginia State scored first with 3:49 left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.Elizabeth City State scored to go ahead 14-7 before the Trojans got on the scoreboard again to tie it up at 14-14.
Virginia State followed with a 10-yard touchdown run at the 12:18 mark in the fourth quarter and took a 21-14 lead in the process.The Trojans kept building their lead, scoring again to go ahead 28-14. Neither team scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Virginia State outgained Elizabeth City State 427-252, including a 264-145 advantage through the air.
» Virginia State had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up 14 points.
» Virginia State converted 6 of 12 third downs while Elizabeth City State was successful on 1 of 10.
» Raja'ee Jones led the Trojans with nine tackles.
» Team punted one times for the Trojans with an average of 58 yards per punt.
» Virginia State went 2-for-2 on fourth down, converting on 100 percent of attempts.
» Virginia State won the time of possession battle 36:19 to 23:41.
» The Trojans ended the game on a strong note, scoring 21 unanswered points to close out the contest.
» Rahsaan Matthews Jr. completed 67.6% of his passes on the day, going 23-for-34 while averaging 7.8 yards per attempt.
» Troy Smith led the Vikings passing attack, completing 13 of his 23 attempts for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
» Josef Manley led the Elizabeth City State rushing attack with 53 yards.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
