Box Score Game Coverage on Sportspage Gleaner
LEXINGTON, Va.- Sophomore fullback Howard Abegesah (Beltsville, Md.) rushed for 134 yards on 22 carries and the VMI defense posted its first shutout in two years as the Keydets defeated Lock Haven, 20-0, before 5,862 opening game spectators at Alumni Memorial Field at Foster Stadium.

The VMI defense limited the Bald Eagles to 162 yards total offense which was the best posted since Jim Reid took over as head coach in 2006.

The Keydet defenders limited LHU to 66 rushing yards and 96 passing yards, also best marks posted in the Reid era.

It was the first shutout by a VMI team since September 3, 2005, when VMI opened the season with a 33-0 blanking of Davidson.

The Keydets (1-0) won their third straight season opener - all at home.

VMI took a 7-0 lead with 2:48 left in the first quarter when sophomore slotback Zach Collins scored on a 23-yard burst up the middle to the endzone, capping a nine-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 4:05 off the opening quarter clock. The drive was keyed by Abegasah's four carries for 21 yards while senior slotback Nat Jackson ripped off two runs for 41 yards.

Jackson's two-yard TD run with 11:51 in the third quarter on VMI's opening drive of the half gave the Keydets a 13-0 lead and was keyed by Abegesah's 30-yard run to the Lock Haven two-yard line on the preceding play. The scoring drive consisted of seven plays covering 57 yards.

Freshman slotback Michael Rainey-Wiles (Pittsburgh, Pa.) capped the scoring with an electrifying 83-yard touchdown run off an option pitch. The score came with 2:50 remaining in the game and was the fourth longest run in VMI history.

The Bald Eagles missed their best chance to put points on the board when Marc Domonkos' 34-yard field goal attempt hooked left with 6:53 left in the first quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Ilio DiPaolo completed 14 of 27 passes for 84 yards to lead the LHU offense while freshman receiver Ryan Faddish caught four passes for 23 yards.

Defensively the Keydets were led by redshirt sophomore outside linebacker Joe Taylor (Richmond, Va.) who had 12 tackles including a half-sack while senior defensive end Tommy Lloyd had 2.5 tackles for loss including a half-sack. The Keydets sacked DiPaolo three times and registered nine tackles-for-loss for 34 yards.

The Keydets turned the ball over three times on the afternoon with LHU fumble recoveries by Adam Andrsko, Shawn Crebs, and Mike Chatburn.

Redshirt sophomore Joey Robinson made his first start at quarterback for the Keydets and rushed for 22 yards on 11 carries while completing both of his two pass attempts. Sophomore Kyle Hughes spelled Robinson in both the second and fourth quarters and rushed four times for 19 yards and completed two of three passes for 35 yards.

Other top VMI rushers included Jackson with 80 yards on nine carries while sophomore slotback Tim Maypray had 104 all-purpose yards.

The Keydets face state-rival William & Mary next Saturday in Lexington at 1:00 p.m.

HEAD COACH JIM REID QUOTES

"I thought the linebackers and the secondary did a fine job, we got backed up a couple of times, and they held their ground. I was so pleased because, as a Corps, we got together last night at a pep rally, and this is a great start to the season. We need to play better if we're going to continue to win, but this is a good start for us."

ON THE KEYS TO THE WIN- "We had to get some pressure on their passer, and we had a number of sacks today. We chased that very talented #14 (Ilio DePaolo-QB) around in a lot of different ways. We had to hold the line of scrimmage, and we did that just about all day. Offensively, we're missing three starters on the offensive line. But I keep telling everybody that we've got more speed this year, and you saw Michael Rainey-Wiles today, he took it the distance and outran everybody, which was great to see. We were waiting for him to burst out one time, and that happened, and we were really excited about."

ON THE OFFENSE'S PERFORMANCE- "We stopped ourselves quite a bit. We didn't get the checks that we wanted to get in the third quarter, in the beginning. But we made a commitment (at halftime) that we were going to score on that first drive coming out of the box to give us a little breathing room, and we did. The other thing that we did was tell our offense that we were going to go for fourth down all the time and we did to take a little pressure off of Patrick Sweeney, and we did that too. Most of the time it worked. I'm just proud of our players, our attitude, and the corps for yelling and screaming for us. It's still going to take some time, but we're going to build this into something that everybody can be proud of every week."