LEXINGTON, Va. - VMI closed out its 2005 football season with a 22-14 setback to The Citadel before a crowd of 8,674 spectators at Alumni Memorial Field in Lexington.
The Bulldogs successfully defended the Silver Shako in The Military Classic of the South behind the strong running of junior running back Nuru Goodman who rushed 32 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
VMI's offense was hampered by eight Citadel sacks which kept the Keydets off-stride all day.
The Citadel outgained VMI, 288-189, in total offense and capitalized on two VMI turnovers and converted both into scoring drives.
The Keydets closed out the season 3-8, 2-2 Big South while The Citadel finished 4-7, 2-5 Southern Conference. Citadel extended its series lead to 32-30-2 in the rivalry that began in 1920.
The Bulldogs struck first on their second drive of the day, keyed by an Avery Dingle interception of a Jonathan Wilson pass that was returned to the VMI 45. Eight plays later, Citadel quarterback Ben Carnell pegged wide receiver Kinta Palmer in the back of the endzone for an eight-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good and the score remained, 6-0.
VMI took its lone lead of the afternoon when it engineered a nine-play, 46-yard drive that was capped by Nat Jackson's three-yard TD run. Barrett Way converted the PAT to give the Keydets a 7-6 lead with 3:28 left in the first period.
The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead for good when Goodrum slammed in from the one-yard line with 9:43 remaining in the half. The two-point try resulted in a sack and the score remained 12-7 following the nine, play 58-yard drive that was highlighted by Goodrum's seven carries for 51 yards.
The Citadel extended the lead to 15-7 at the 5:48 mark in the second quarter when Blake Vandiver nailed a 34-yard field goal that was aided by a Gary Domanski punt return to the VMI 31.
The teams battled throughout a scoreless third quarter, but The Citadel forced a Wilson fumble on a sack early in the fourth quarter that was recovered at the VMI 41 by Bulldog end Deon Douglas. A unsportmanlike penalty call against VMI pushed the ball to the VMI 26, Goodrum scored from the one-yard line six plays later to push the lead to 22-7 with 10:40 left in the game.
VMI answered on its next possession when Titus Green returned the ensuing kickoff 46 yards to The Citadel 46. Wilson completed six of eight pass attempts on the drive for 46 yards and reached the endzone on a six-yard scramble, to cut the lead to 22-14 with 7:43 remaining.
The Keydets managed just one more offensive possession in the game, stalling at their own 37 before being forced to punt with 4:31 left. It would be the last time they would have their hands on the ball as the Bulldogs ran out the clock behind Goodrum's 34 yards rushing and a key third-and-four pass to tight end Taylor Corner from Carnell good for 10 yards and a crucial first down.
The Citadel pounded out 207 yards rushing while the Keydets were limited to just 31 yards on the ground on the day, aggrevated by the eight Bulldog sacks for 42 yards.
Bulldog linebacker Porter Johnson finished as the game's defensive standout with 13 total tackles, five for loss including four sacks for 25 yards.
Wilson completed 17 of 28 passes for 158 yards for the Keydets while wide receiver Zohn Burden hauled in nine passes for 98 yards.
Linebackers Todd Baldwin and Justin Huggard led the Keydets defensively with 18 and 16 tackles, respectively.
VMI Game Notes -
---Wide receiver Zohn Burden completed the season with 58 receptions and completed his career as the #2 VMI receiver with 162 catches, just three shy of Mark Stock's 165 receptions.
---Jonathan Wilson completed 184 of 295 attempts for 62.4%, the second best in VMI history. His 184 completions were the second most in a season by the VMI quarterback.
---Zohn Burden and Gary Price extended their consecutive games catch streak to 34 games.
VMI head coach Cal McCombs-
"Today's game was just how I thought it was going to be like. I knew that they had been playing good defense during the season, and we played pretty good defensively today too. I thought both teams had a hard time scoring points. I knew it was going to be a tough game, I thought it was going to go down to the wire, and it did. We had too many penalties, and we never could sustain anything, we gave up too many sacks and we had a hard time running the ball on them. But our defense kept us in the game, gave us a chance to come back, but we just couldn't muster up enough to come back and tie it up at 22-22 and send it to overtime."
"I wish we would've had a better day today, as far as winning the ball game; I feel bad for Baldwin, Huggard and Jonathan and the rest of the seniors, they played hard today, they've given a lot to VMI football. It would've been nice to send them out with a win today. But I told them in the locker room after the game today that they don't need to hang their heads, because it was a hard-fought game. They got a few breaks and made a few plays that made the difference. We had two football teams playing hard out there, and only one can win."
THE CITADEL NOTES -
Ą The Citadel won back-to-back games for the first time since the 2003 season (three consecutive over Elon, Furman & Georgia Southern);
Ą SS Avery Dingle intercepted his fourth pass of the season; the team's best;
Ą PR Tory Cooper's 52-yard kickoff return in the first quarter was the longest of his career;
Ą RB Nuru Goodrum reached the 100-yard rushing mark for the second time this season (he had 118 yards on 18 carries at Georgia Southern); his 175 total yards is a career high and the team's high rushing this season; his 32 carries is also his career-high and team-high this season;
Ą LB Porter Johnson's four sacks was the most by a Bulldog this year; it gives him seven on the season, and 10 for his career (tied for second-best in school history - 12 by Cliff Washburn and 10 by George Milton).
Coach Kevin Higgins:
"This was a great win for our seniors and a game that they will remember for the rest of their lives."
"VMI never backed down. We knew it would be a battle, and it was."
On Nuru Goodrum: "He's special. Our game plan was to give him the ball and often. He rose to the challenge."
