FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- Virginia Union rallied from a seven-point third quarter deficit to beat Fayetteville State 31-28 on Saturday afternoon at Luther Nick Jeralds Stadium.
VUU improved to 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association play, while FSU fell to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in conference matchups.
"Hats off to Virginia Union, they are a good football team and we knew that coming in here, said FSU Head Coach Richard Hayes. "I thought we came out fired up and ready to play. The whole time we thought we were in the game. We turned them over four times and I thought our team played really hard."
K'hari Lane led Fayetteville State's passing attack with 222 yards through the air, tossing three touchdowns and three interceptions. "It's definitely good to see our offense get going after struggling for a few weeks," Hayes said. "We know we have the pieces to get it done, it's just a matter of the chemistry getting together and taking care of the football."
Ellijah Henry led all FSU rushers with 14 yards in the contest. Avery McCall also added 10 yards on the ground and helped the Broncos to a late fourth quarter scoring drive.
Barry Elliott pulled in six catches for 102 yards and one score. Braxton Knotts made his presence felt in the passing game, recording five receptions for 59 yards and one touchdown. "The receivers had a really good game compared to the first few games we had," Elliot said. We really stepped it up tonight but we still have to get back in the lab and do a little bit more. We just need to take care of the little mental errors and stuff."
John Oxce showed out for the Fayetteville State defense, collecting four tackles, 2.0 TFL, one sack, and one recovered fumble. Brandon Barnes-Brown added three tackles and one interception and Gerald Simpson had seven tackles, 1.5 TFL, and one recovered fumble in the loss.
FSU won the turnover battle in Saturday's game, forcing four turnovers while coughing the ball up three times, with Fayetteville State turning those takeaways into seven points.
Defensively, Fayetteville State held up fairly well against the Virginia Union offensive attack, holding the VUU to 237 total yards. The FSU defense disrupted the Virginia Union passing attack on the way to grabbing two interceptions and breaking up five VUU passes.
The Broncos will remain at home over the next two weekends and continue their season next Saturday at Nick Jeralds Stadium hosting Chowan. "Staying home the next couple of weeks is going to be an advantage for us," Elliot said. "It's going to give us time to slow things down and get everything tightened up that we need to."
How It Happened
Fayetteville State scored on the game's first drive to take a 7-0 lead. FSU then followed with another score to increase the lead to 14-0.
After Virginia Union tied the game at 14-14, Fayetteville State scored again with 5:34 left in the third quarter with a 15-yard touchdown reception from Knotts to jump back in front 21-14.Virginia Union fought back to take a 31-21 lead, but FSU got on the scoreboard again to close the gap and make it a 31-28 game.
Game Notes
» Fayetteville State outgained Virginia Union 283-237, including a 245-58 advantage through the air.
» Fayetteville State won the turnover battle 4-3 after intercepting two passes and recovering two fumbles.
» Fayetteville State had their highest scoring quarter in the first period, when they put up 14 points.
» Fayetteville State converted 5 of 17 third downs while Virginia Union was successful on 4 of 15.
» The FSU had two players with more than eight tackles in the ballgame led by Kentrell Caldwell, who had 11.
» Fayetteville State went 1-for-1 on fourth down, converting on 100 percent of attempts.
» The FSU racked up 14 tackles for loss and added three sacks.
» Fayetteville State got off to a fantastic start in the contest, putting 14 unanswered points on the board before Virginia Union could respond.
» Jahkari Grant led the VUU passing attack, completing eight of his 20 attempts for 58 yards with two interceptions.
» Jada Byers led the Virginia Union rushing attack with 161 yards and three touchdowns.
