ETTRICK, Virginia --Six different players reached the end zone, led by two scores from Rahsaan Matthews Jr., as Virginia State rolled past Winston-Salem 49-19 on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Stadium.
The Trojans improved to 4-1 on the year and 3-0 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association play, while the Rams fell to 0-5 and 0-3.
Matthews Jr. led Virginia State's passing attack with 277 yards through the air, tossing one touchdown and one interception. The signal caller also added 77 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Tj Mordecai totaled 77 yards to lead the Trojans' ground attack and added one touchdown in the game, picking up 4.8 yards per carry along the way.
Kevin Gayles pulled in four catches for 86 yards and one score.
Ian Wynn showed out for the Virginia State defense, totaling one recovered fumble. Jayshaun Alston added four tackles, 2.5 TFL, two sacks, and two forced fumbles and Maurice Calloway had 0.5 TFL and one recovered fumble in the win.
Virginia State recorded a big outing on the ground, logging 215 rushing yards while averaging 6.1 yards per carry and out-rushing Winston-Salem by 76 yards. The Virginia State offense did a good job extending drives, converting on 57.1 percent of third-down attempts. The Trojans also went 2-for-2 on fourth down.
Defensively, Virginia State held up fairly well against the Winston-Salem offensive attack, holding the Rams to 234 total yards. The Trojans kept Winston-Salem under 150 yards on both the ground and through the air, allowing 95 passing and 139 rushing yards.
Virginia State took care of business in the red zone, scoring four times on five trips inside Winston-Salem's 20-yard line, with all of those scores being touchdowns.
How It HappenedVirginia State scored on the game's first drive to take a 7-0 lead.The Trojans then increased their lead to 14-0 with another score.
Virginia State kept Winston-Salem off the scoreboard and increased its lead to 21-0 with 8:18 remaining in the second quarter.The Trojans continued to expand their lead, scoring again to go ahead 28-0.
Virginia State continued to extend its lead after Winston-Salem made it a 28-7 game, scoring again with 13:06 remaining in the fourth quarter make the score 35-7.The Trojans kept scoring, tacking on a touchdown to extend their advantage to 49-7. Virginia State didn't score again and Winston-Salem added 12 more points to finish off the game.
Game Notes» Virginia State outgained Winston-Salem 492-234, including a 277-95 advantage through the air.
» The Trojans scored first with 10:29 left 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 4 of 7 third downs while Winston-Salem was successful on 5 of 15.
» Virginia State went 2-for-2 on fourth down, converting on 100 percent of attempts.
» The Trojans racked up eight tackles for loss and added two sacks.
» Virginia State got off to a hot start in the contest, putting 28 unanswered points on the board before Winston-Salem could respond.
» Matthews Jr. completed 65.4% of his passes on the day, going 17-for-26 while averaging 10.7 yards per attempt.
» Brayden Jeffries led the Rams passing attack, completing four of his six attempts for 80 yards and one touchdown.
» Jayvion Danzy led the Winston-Salem rushing attack with 74 yards.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
