MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - VMI's option attack rolled up a season-high 551 total yards including 443 rushing and the Keydets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 40-13 win at Robert Morris Saturday at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township, Pa.

Sophomore quarterback Kyle Hughes (Williamsburg, Va.) rushed for 136 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns and completed touchdown strikes of 49 and 32 yards to freshman receiver Bryan Barnson (Chesapeake, Va.). Hughes became the first quarterback since Tony Scales (1991 vs. Western Carolina) to rush for over 100 yards and throw for 100 or more yards in a game.

Sophomore fullback Howard Abegesah (Beltsville, Md.) led VMI in rushing for the fifth straight game with a career-high 157 yards on 27 carries. Abegesah averaged 5.8 yards per carry on the day and set the tone for VMI's strong ground game -especially in the second half when the Keydets held off a Robert Morris comeback.

The Colonials rallied from a 20-3 late second quarter deficit and pulled within 20-13 with 8:59 left in the third quarter when junior quarterback Erik Cwalinski connected with senior receiver Alvin Hall on a 37-yard TD strike.

But the Keydets responded by scoring on their next two possessions with a pair of 80-yard drives, while the defense neutralized the Colonial passing game with constant pressure on the quarterback and tight coverage by the secondary.

Looking for breathing room, VMI took the ball from its own 20 and marched nine plays and 80 yards to the endzone, capping the decisive third quarter drive with a 34-yard TD pass from Hughes to Barnson on a fourth and eight call. The score put VMI up, 27-13 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.

After forcing RMU to punt, the Keydets took over again and assembled another 80-yard scoring drive, taking ten plays to reach the end zone on a Tim Maypray two-yard run to push the VMI lead to 33-13 with 10:46 left in the fourth quarter.

VMI capped its scoring on the day with 1:55 left with a six-yard sweep run by junior back Joey Robinson for his first touchdown on the year. The run also put Robinson at 100 yards rushing for the game, giving VMI three 100-yard rushers in the same game for the first time since 1991, when Tony Scales, Marcus Mines, and Scott Council each turned in 100-yard rushing efforts against East Tennessee State.

Defensively, the Keydets forced two turnovers and racked up 11 tackles for loss including four sacks.

Sophomore defensive back Bryant Youngblood (Youngstown, Ohio), who started at free safety while junior Keith Taylor moved to strong safety, led VMI in tackles with 10 stops and one pass break-up. Senior cornerback Marcus Brown (Norfolk, Va.) knocked down three passes to go along with his nine tackles, junior linebacker Jacob Rochester (Dallas, Tex.) had three tackles for loss including a sack, and sophomore linebacker Patrick McKinney (Big Stone Gap, Va.) added two tackles for loss for 13 yards. Redshirt defensive end Damiso Alexander (Richmond, Va.) forced a fourth quarter fumble that was recovered by tackle Josh Wine (Fredericksburg, Va.) and led to VMI's final score.

VMI jumped to a 7-0 lead when Hughes connected with Barnson on a 49-yard TD pass with with 4:17 left in the first quarter as the Keydets took just three plays to move 69 yards to get on the scoreboard.

The Keydets extended the lead to 13-0 with 11:27 left in the second quarter when Hughes capped a 10-play, 80 yard drive with a four-yard keeper for the first of his two rushing TD's. The drive was keyed by a 27-yard pass to Tim Maypray and a 15-yard personal foul penalty that moved the ball to the RMU 35-yard line.

The Colonials got their first half points on a pair of field goals of 26 and 39 yards from junior Michael Walser.

Hughes added his second touchdown – a 71-yard burst out of the option keeper, to put VMI ahead 20-3 with 1:48 left in the half.

RMU quarterback Cwalinski completed 14 passes of 37 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown and freshman running back Myles Russ added 97 yards on 14 carries.

The Keydets have an off-week next Saturday and return to action Saturday, October 13 to face Presbyterian College at Foster Stadium. Kickoff will be 1:00 p.m.

VMI HEAD COACH JIM REID – “I thought our entire football team did a great job. We stuck together. There was a lot of excitement on the sideline. We knew we were going into an open week and we wanted to have a real good feeling. We've been so close and people don't know how close we've been. I was really proud of our guys that the defense stiffened a couple of times when we had fumbles down deep, and we just made a lot of progress today I thought and we just need to keep it going. We can't let this go to our heads, we just have to keep working, keep working, keep working.”

GAME NOTES –

---VMI won its first road game since October 1, 2005 (10-3 at Liberty).

---The 40 points, 551 yards total offense, and 443 yards rushing were all VMI highs under Jim Reid.

---The 551 yards total offense was the most ever given up by a Robert Morris defense.