LEXINGTON, Va. - Coastal Carolina quarterback Tyler Thigpen completed a 30-yard TD pass with 12:51 left to lift the Chanticleers to a 21-14 win over VMI Saturday before a Parents Weekend crowd of 6,419 at Alumni Memorial Field in Lexington.
The go-ahead drive was aided by a short field set up by a 16-yard Adam Peters punt into 30 mile and hour gusts which gave the Chants the ball at the 30-yard line. One play later, Thigpen hit Parks on a crossing route and the sophomore angled away from VMI defenders to the left corner of the endzone.
Facing a stiff wind and tough CCU defense in the final quarter, VMI was unable to mount a serious scoring threat. VMI's final four drives ended with two punts, an interception, and downs.
Coastal Carolina (5-1, 1-0 Big South) opened the game's scoring with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a Patrick Hall two-yard sweep with 1:00 left in the first quarter. Thigpen completed all four of his passes on the drive for 47 yards while Hall contributed 29 rushing yards on six carries.
The Keydets (0-7, 0-2) answered when junior receiver Kirk Monteleone, who was originally recruited as a quarterback at VMI, was inserted at QB and engineered a six-play 57 scoring drive. Junior running back Sean Mizzer scored on a two-yard toss sweep play to the right and Barrett Way's extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 10:53 left. Monteleone sparked the drive with a 27-yard scramble and a 33-yard pass to Zohn Burden to the Coastal three-yard line.
Coastal Carolina retook the lead late in the half when sophomore linebacker Shaun Gaines stepped in front of a David Poldiak screen pass attempt at the CCU 49 and raced untouched 51 yards for the score with 1:30 remaining in the second quarter. Josh Hoke's extra point gave CCU a 14-7 lead at the break. It was the third time this season an opponent had returned an interception for a touchdown against the Keydets.
VMI pulled even on its first drive of the second half when Mizzer scored on an 11-yard burst up the middle that capped a six-play, 54 yard drive that consumed 2:56 off the clock. Mizzer keyed the drive with three rushed for 39 yards.
The Keydets missed a scoring opportunity on its next drive after junior linebacker Justin Huggard picked off a Thigpen pass at the CCU 35-yard line and returned it 15 yards to the 20. A clipping penalty on the first play derailed VMI's first play of the ensuing drive. A seven yard rush by Mizzer, a motion penalty, an incomplete pass, and seven-yard pass to Tommy Lloyd forced the Keydets to punt.
Coastal outgained the Keydets 327-245 and showed a balanced attack of 176 yards rushing and 151 yards passing.
Hall rushed for 78 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown to lead Coastal Carolina while Mizzer finished with 78 yards on 17 carries and two scores.
Thigpen completed 11 of 20 passes for 151 yards and one touchdown and was picked off twice.
Monteleone led VMI QB's with eight of 14 passes for 78 yards and also rushed for 63 yards on 20 carries.
Junior Gary Price extended his consecutive catch streak to 19 games and led VMI receivers with six catches for 43 yards. Zohn Burden also caught one pass for 33 yards to extend his streak to 19 games.
VMI junior free safety Robert Mason led all tacklers with 15 yards and intercepted a pass.
CCU generated 12 tackles for loss for -32 yards and was led by Kenneth Chambers and Sam Harper with eight tackles each.
VMI faces Gardner-Webb next Saturday at 6 p.m. in Boiling Springs, N.C. Coastal Carolina hosts Liberty next Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
VMI HEAD COACH CAL MCCOMBS - "I really think our kids played hard today and played hard for 60 minutes and I have the utmost respect for these guys because we've gone through some tough times this year. There would be some teams that were 0-6 that would just out there and piddle around, but our guys gave us great effort and we played to win. We just came up short. We had some opportunities on some interceptions and some fumbles that offensively we weren't able to take advantage of."
COASTAL CAROLINA COACH DAVID BENNETT - "I am very proud of our guys, as they kept their composure and found a way to win the game. We have a lot of respect for VMI, as this school has a great tradition. Our defense rose to the occasion today, as they were put in several tough situations and came through. I don't know that we, as a staff, have ever had so many game-changing calls in a single game, but our guys did a great job of fighting through it and winning the game. Now we have to focus and get ready for a tough Liberty team."
VMI NOTES: Junior running back Sean Mizzer moved into the #5 spot on the VMI career rushing list - moving past Kim Glidewell ('73-'76, 2168 yards). Mizzer now has 2,177 yards. His two touchdowns tied him for sixth on the school list with 16 career rushing TD's.
COASTAL NOTES:
The touchdown reception by CCU's Perry Parks was the first CCU TD reception for a player other than freshman Jerome Simpson.
Coastal's two Big South Conference wins, in its brief history, have come on the road.
Shaun Gaines' defensive touchdown for CCU was the second for the Coastal defense this year and third in the program's history.
