SALISBURY, N.C. – Fayetteville State used a season-best passing performance from quarterback Jamir Dismukes, three rushing touchdowns from Malik Fuller, and a pair of key interceptions on defense to earn a 28-20 CIAA victory over Livingstone College on Saturday afternoon.

The Broncos finished with 377 yards of total offense, including 275 passing yards, while controlling possession for nearly 40 minutes. Fayetteville State improved to 3-3 overall, overcoming a pair of special teams miscues in the second half to secure the road victory heading into its bye week.

"We got off to a fast start today," said Head Coach Richard Hayes. "Livingstone did a great job blitzing us on first down and trying to get us behind the sticks, but once we came out of the lightning delay, I thought we got things going in the right direction with our offense."

The Broncos struck quickly and consistently moving the football throughout the afternoon. Dismukes completed 17-of-24 passes without an interception and spread the ball among nine different receivers. His biggest play came on an 86-yard touchdown strike to Cameron Parker, who finished with two receptions for a game-high 117 yards.

"Our pass game was going," Hayes said. "We threw for 275 yards today, and that's a season high for us."

While the passing attack produced explosive plays, Fayetteville State remained committed to the run game, totaling 43 rushing attempts.

"We ran the ball 43 times and did a yeoman's job running the football," Hayes said.

The Broncos found success in the red zone behind Fuller, who scored all three of his touchdowns on the ground. The redshirt freshman carried 17 times for 59 yards and repeatedly delivered in short-yardage situations.

Hayes credited Fuller's physical running style and growth within the offense.

"Malik Fuller, our redshirt freshman running back, is our bigger back, and we finally got him going downhill and gave him an opportunity to show what he could do," Hayes said. "He's also our head man when we go into our heavy package, and I thought he did a great job at the end of the game helping us close things out."

Fayetteville State appeared to be in control for much of the afternoon before Livingstone used special teams opportunities to stay within striking distance. A blocked field goal and a blocked punt helped the Blue Bears generate momentum and make the game tighter in the second half.

Hayes pointed to special teams as an area the Broncos will focus on during the upcoming bye week.

"We've got to work on our special teams," Hayes said. "I think they got back into the game with a blocked field goal, which is uncharacteristic for us, and then they blocked a punt. We've got to shore that up over the next two weeks so it doesn't happen again. That allowed them to get back into the game."

Defensively, Fayetteville State limited Livingstone to just 175 total yards, including only 93 passing yards. The Blue Bears completed just six passes all afternoon and converted only one of nine third-down opportunities.

The Broncos came up with several game-changing plays, including a critical interception by Zyking Patillo late in the second quarter that stopped a Livingstone scoring threat before halftime.

"Zyking Patillo made a couple of big plays and had a huge interception at the end of the first half," Hayes said. "Our young guys are starting to contribute more and more. We're young, and we're relying on young players to step up, and now they're starting to do that."

Livingstone mounted one final drive in the closing seconds before Christopher Bentley sealed the victory with an interception with just 16 seconds remaining.

The takeaway capped a strong defensive effort for the Broncos, who held the Blue Bears to 11 first downs and less than 200 yards of offense.

Despite the adversity created by special teams breakdowns, Hayes was pleased with the way his team responded and finished the game.

"The overall effort of the guys and the way we finished, I'm really proud of it," Hayes said. "We wanted to be 1-0 this week, and that's what we accomplished. It's good to go into the bye week with a win."