FINAL STATS

(BOWIE, Md.)  Bowie State University jumped out to a 20-6 halftime lead and sailed to a 20-12 home finale victory of the Vikings of Elizabeth City State University.  The win keeps the Bulldogs in the hunt for the CIAA Northern Division title with 5-1 conference record.

Despite allowing Elizabeth City State to rack up 507 yards in total offense, the Bowie State defense made big plays when they needed to. Freshman Joseph Goins (Glenn Dale, MD, DeMatha) blocked a Danny Heimrich punt deep in Vikings territory and recovered it in the end zone for an early Bulldogs first quarter lead. Junior Michael Gagne (Baltimore, MD, Parkville) added the extra point for a 7-0 Bowie State lead. The BSU defense forced Elizabeth City State to punt on its next possession and countered with a 38 yard touchdown run by junior Clifton Budd (Silver Spring, MD, Sherwood), capping off a seven play, 94 yard drive. Gagne's extra point gave the home team a 14-0 advantage with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter.

Kevin Swain rushed for a 22 yard touchdown with 29 seconds left in the opening period for the ECSU Vikings first six points of the afternoon. However, Devon Pike's extra point attempt was blocked to close out the first 15 minutes of action.

The Bowie State defense snuffed out the Vikings twice in the second quarter, preventing Elizabeth City State from scoring inside the red zone. ECSU's Cedric Blackwell and Daronte McNeill were stopped for no gain on back-to-back rushes from the Bowie State one-yard line on the Vikings' first possession in the second quarter. Elizabeth City State missed another scoring opportunity late in the period. Creven Powell completed a 20 yard pass to Billy Wiggins down to the BSU one-yard line, but Wiggins fumbled the ball and recovered by senior Sterling Grant-Jones (Baltimore, MD, Edmondson) in the end zone for a touchback.

Bowie State went into their bag of tricks with two seconds left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs were faced with a fourth and one from the Elizabeth City State 24 yard line and had to decide whether or not to go for a first down, or attempt a 31 yard field goal. Well, BSU lined up for the field goal, but Gagne faked the kicked and Budd tossed a pass to senior Derrick McPhearson (Columbia, MD, DeMatha, Hampton) for 24 yard touchdown and a 20-6 halftime advantage.

Elizabeth City State opened the third quarter with a 10 play, 70 yard drive ending with a two yard touchdown run by Daronte Jones at the 10:15 mark. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the extra point was no good. ECSU was on the doorstep of scoring again late in the third, but that stingy Bulldogs defense stepped up again. The ECSU Vikings had a first and goal from the Bowie State two-yard line and McNeill pushed the Vikings to the one. Following a Bowie State timeout with 2:14 remaining in the third, McNeill was stopped at the line of scrimmage by junior Delano Johnson (Baltimore, MD, Dunbar), causing a fumble, which was recovered by senior Terence Peete, Jr. (Memphis, TN, Northwest) for another touchback.

Bowie State missed a fourth quarter scoring opportunity early in the period when senior Rodney Webb (Baltimore, MD, Milford Mill Academy) fumbled at the Elizabeth City State four and recovered by William Davis of the Vikings. The teams traded their next two respective possessions allowing Elizabeth City State was last chance with 19 seconds left in this key conference clash.

Elizabeth City State (4-4, 3-2 CIAA) was able to complete a 31 yard pass to Dexter Manley to the Bowie State 42 yard line. Powell's final two passes were incomplete with the last being a jump ball in the BSU end zone that was batted away to seal the win for Bowie State.

Budd completed 12-of-26 passes for 200 yards, was intercepted once and one touchdown to lead the Bowie State offense. Budd was also the teams' second leading rusher with 72 yards and a TD. Webb closed out the game with a team-high 92 rushing yards. The M&M boys, Douglas McNeil, III (Baltimore, MD, New Town, James Madison Univ.) and Reginald McIntyre (Baltimore, MD, North County, Wesley College) led the BSU receivers with 60 and 49 reception yards respectively on three catches each.
The Bowie State defense was led by Grant-Jones' 12 total tackles. Johnson and Peete also recorded double-digit tackles picking up 11 and 10 respectively.

ECSU's McNeil led all rushers with a game-high 155 yards and Powell wrapped up the afternoon with 304 passing yards, completing 20-of-35 passes. Manley led both teams with 101 yards on just four receptions.

Bowie State is idle next week and will close out the regular season at Chowan University - Saturday, November 6th.