Box Score LEXINGTON, Va. - The Citadel Bulldogs claimed their fourth straight win in the "Military Classic of the South" with a 70-28 win over VMI Saturday afternoon before 9,138 spectators at Alumni Memorial Field at Foster Stadium.

The Keydets, who entered the game ranked third in the country in rushing, were limited to 207 yards on the ground and were held to a season-low 243 yards on offense.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Bart Blanchard completed 12 of 18 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 62 yards and a score to lead the Bulldog attack. Bulldog senior running back Tory Cooper added 174 yards rushing on 22 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 2, 8, and 50 yards.

VMI sophomore slotback Tim Maypray continued his exceptional running and returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to open the second half. Maypray in the process set a new VMI season mark for most kick return yardage in a season with 889 yards. It was the second kick return for a TD this season by Maypray and the second time a Big South player had ever accomplished the feat.

The Keydets closed their season at 2-9 while the Bulldogs finished 7-4.

Sophomore slotback Joey Robinson led the Keydets in rushing with 82 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown and sophomore slotback Zach Collins added 72 yards rushing on eight carries and scored two TD's including a 59-yard burst in the second half.

The Citadel took advantage of a Taylor Cornett 53-yard return to the VMI 19 on the game's opening kickoff and got on the board two plays later following rushes by Cooper of 17 and two yards.

The Bulldogs led 14-0 after one quarter when Blanchard scored on a 30-yard quarterback draw up the middle that capped an eight-play, 82-yard drive that was keyed by a 26-yard pass to Tim Higgins to the VMI 30.

The Citadel extended the lead to 21-0 when Blanchard hit Higgins on a crossing route for a 10-yard TD pass at the 11:55 mark of the second quarter.

The Bulldogs misfired on an attempted onsides kick on the ensuing kickoff, and VMI took possession at the Bulldog 38 yard-line and scored two plays later when Robinson dashed 35 yards down the right sideline to pull VMI within 21-7 with 11:15 remaining in the second quarter.

But Citadel responded with touchdowns on its last three possessions of the first half to take a 42-7 halftime lead.

VMI sophomore linebacker Patrick McKinney led the defensive charts with 10 tackles and one tackle for loss while junior free safety Keith Taylor finished with nine tackles and a forced fumble. Senior safety Chi Chi Ezekwe, playing in his final game, had eight tackles and recovered a fumble while red-shirt defensive end Damiso Alexander registred an eight-yard sack.

Redshirt senior defensive back Joshua Lawson had 15 tackles to lead The Citadel and recovered two fumbles.

Maypray's 224 all-purpose yards marked the fifth time this season the sophomore produced 200 or more all-purpose yards in a game.

GAME NOTES

---VMI set a new school record and finished with 402.2 yards per game total offense in 11 games well ahead of the 390.1 yards total offense per game posted by the 2003 squad.

---VMI finished the season leading the Big South in rushing and set a new Big South Conference mark for most yards in a season with 3,115 yards. The former record of 3,058 yards was held by Coastal Carolina in 2004.

---Tim Maypray set a new school record for kick return yardage with 889 yards to surpass Kevin Solomon who had 685 yards in 2002. Maypray's 1976 total all-purpose yards were also the fifth highest season in VMI history.


HEAD COACH JIM REID QUOTES- On inability of defense to get off of field- "I'll tell you what, the one area of the defense that we've been good at all year was being able to get out on third down. It was the first and second down big plays that have hurt us. We never seemed to be into the flow of the game and we couldn't catch up to their receivers. We had an opportunity to make a couple of plays on the ball and we weren't able to do it. Until we're able to clean that up, this will hurt us."

On effort today- "The last two games, we just didn't come out of the blocks very well. It was too bad, because we gave a good effort today, we just had a very poor effort in the first half. It was one of focus, it wasn't one of walking around, but we just didn't make our reads right, we couldn't seem to nail down the third-down defense like we wanted to, and we gave up some big plays. We've got a long way to go yet. But we've got some good young players, and as long as they stay excited, then we'll be all right."