FINAL STATS

PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Mark Coleman)

(BOWIE, Md.) Bowie State University officially christened its new synthetic turf field and junior Clifton Budd (Silver Spring, MD, Sherwood) set two school passing records in the Bulldogs 28-27 victory over the Panthers of Virginia Union University. Budd completed 32 of 51 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns. Budd's 32 completions and 355 yards surpassed the old mark of 24 completions and 324 passing yards set by Arthur Lee in 1983. 

Virginia Union's Andre Winston hauled in a 27-yard pass from Aris McGlone-English on the games' opening drive (3-plays, 60 yards), giving the Panthers an early 7-0 lead. Bowie State and Virginia Union traded their respective next possession, before BSU's Budd connected on a 25 yard touchdown pass to junior Douglas McNeil, III (Baltimore, MD, New Town, James Madison Univ.) with 6:55 left in the first quarter. Junior Michael Gagne (Baltimore, MD, Parkville) converted the extra point, tying the game at 7-7. Gagne put three more on the Bulldogs Stadium scoreboard at the 1:02 mark of the first on a 24-yard field goal and a 10-7 advantage.

Bowie State increased their lead to 15-7 via a Gagne 30-yard field and safety by senior Sterling Grant-Jones (Baltimore, MD, Edmondson) at the 8:14 and 5:29 marks respectively of the second quarter. Two Bowie State miscues assisted Virginia Union with six points late in the second quarter. Virginia Union's Aaron Reynolds recovered a Budd fumble at the Bulldogs 37-yard line and one play later VUU's Tarian Donaldson rushed in from 2-yards out. The extra point by Stephen Valasquez was blocked by junior Delano Johnson (Baltimore, MD, Dunbar), sending Bowie State into halftime with a narrow 15-13 lead.

Virginia Union's Jerrell Washington shifted the advantage over to the Panthers with a 1-yard rushing touchdown with 9:57 remaining in the third quarter. Valasquez's extra point was good for a 19-15 Panthers lead. Ja'Mir Drakeford recovered a Bowie State fumble and returned it 17-yards for a Virginia Union touchdown. McGlone-English tossed a pass to Cheikh Gadiaga for the two point conversion and a 27-15 Panthers lead.

Sophomore Reginald McIntyre was the recipient of an 18-yard touchdown pass from Budd with 2:02 left in the third, trimming the Bowie State deficit to 27-21.

Bowie State regained the lead for good at the 12:50 mark of the fourth quarter when Budd threw his third touchdown pass of the afternoon, this time for 39-yards to senior Gregory Jackson (Accokeek, MD, Gwynn Park), capping off an 11-play, 72 yard drive. Gagne drilled extra point to account for the final 28-27 score.

BSU's McNeil led all receivers with a game/season-high 144 reception yards (seven catches) and junior James Proctor, Jr. (Capital Heights, MD, Suitland) caught six passes for 45 yards. Budd also led Bowie State in rushing with 54 yards on 11 carries.

Senior Terence Peete, Jr. (Memphis, TN, Northwest) paced the Bowie State Bulldogs defense with a team-high six tackles. Grant-Jones was close second with five total tackles and Calvin Johnson (Bowie, MD, DeMatha) along with Delano Johnson (no relation) added four tackles each. Bowie State didn't allow Virginia Union a single third down conversion out of eight attempts.

Bowie State outgained Virginia Union 426 (88 plays) to 244 (48 plays) in total yards and controlled the clock, holding a 37:01 to 22:59 advantage. On the negative side, Bowie State was penalized 21 times for 192 yards compared to only nine for 82 by Virginia Union.

“It's not supposed to be this hard”, said second-year head coach Damon Wilson. “The guys showed a lot of perseverance and the young guys stepped up and made big plays … I give much of the credit to our offensive line!”

McGlone-English completed 13-of-27 passes for 177 yards to lead Virginia Union on offense. Adidias Arrington led the Panthers on defense with a game-high 10 tackles and Dominique Anderson added another nine tackles.

Bowie State (2-3 overall, 2-0 CIAA) host Virginia State University at 1 p.m. – Saturday, October 2nd and Virginia Union (1-3 CIAA, 1-1 CIAA) travels to Chowan to take on the Hawks at 6 p.m. next Saturday.