N. CHARLESTON, S.C. ? VMI saw a fourth quarter road rally come up short for the second consecutive week as the Keydets fell 31-21 to Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon in North Charleston, S.C.

VMI dropped its second consecutive game and dropped to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the Big South Conference. Charleston Southern evened its overall record to 4-4 and 2-2 in the BSC. The Keydets have also dropped three straight games at CSU Stadium.

The Buccaneers controlled the ball for 37:39 to VMI's 22:21 and took advantage of two costly VMI turnovers to take a lead they would never relinquish. 

Charleston Southern outgained VMI, 431-311, and used a balanced attack of 243 rushing yards and 188 passing yards while holding VMI to 239 yards on the ground, far below its nation-leading 351.4 rushing yards per game.

Junior fullback Howard Abegesah rushed for 102 yards on 12 carries for his seventh career 100-yard game to lead the VMI attack, but it wasn't enough to overcome a season-low 38 yards on 16 carries by junior quarterback Tim Maypray, who was forced to shoulder most of the load for the second straight week as junior quarterback Kyle Hughes missed his second straight game with a hamstring ailment.

Trailing 24-14 early in the fourth quarter, VMI pulled within three points when junior slotback Zach Collins converted a Justin Hickman dump over the middle into a 53-yard touchdown with 13:06 remaining.

But the Keydets could muster just 16 yards on their final two possessions of the game while the Bucs cushioned their lead with a 10-play, 55-yard drive that consumed a precious 5:18 off the fourth quarter clock. Redshirt freshman running back B.J. Hackworth scored on a five-yard TD run with 2:18 left to put the Bucs up, 31-21, and close out the game's scoring. The drive was keyed by a 15-yard third down and 15 conversion pass from CSU quarterback Tribble Reese to senior wideout Markus Murray to the VMI 25.

VMI, trailing by three points with 10 minutes left, had an apparent Maypray 74-yard touchdown run that would have given VMI the lead called backed on an illegal block penalty.

Reese completed 19 of 25 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns and was picked off twice. Sophomore receiver Gerald Stevenson rushed for 80 yards on seven carries and added seven catches for 71 yards.

VMI moved 60 yards in five plays on its opening drive of the game and took a 7-0 lead when Maypray dove in on a three-yard option keeper with 10:02 in the first quarter.

Charleston Southern tied the score at 7-7 at the 7:04 mark of the opening quarter when Reese flipped a one-yard TD pass to tight end Tyreese Harris in the right corner of the endzone.

VMI moved to the CSU 4 on the ensuing drive, but squandered a chance for points when Greg Stevens misfired from the right hash field goal try from 21 yards away. 

The Keydet defense put VMI back on top late in the first quarter when redshirt freshman Tyler Reedy stepped in front of a Reese pass at midfield and dashed 50 yards down the left sideline for a 14-7 lead as the Greg Stevens extra point was good with 1:00 left in the period. It was the first VMI interception returned for a touchdown since Marcus Brown returned a pass for a touchdown against Gardner-Webb in 2006.

CSU sophomore kicker John Paglia knocked through a 21-yard field goal with 4:38 left in the first half to cut the VMI lead to 14-10. A Stevenson 39-yard run off a double reverse to the VMI 2 put the Bucs at the Keydet doorstep, but VMI's defense stiffened with two negative yardage plays totaling -9 yards to force a field goal try.  

With one minute left in the half and the Keydets pinned back at their own one yard-line, VMI fumbled the ball on its first play as Maypray had it knocked loose and recovered by junior defensive back Matt Bach at the VMI 3.  Reese followed with a three-yard option keeper two players later to put CSU up for good, 17-14, with :16 left in the half.

The Keydets continued with ball security problems on their two drives in the second half, fumbling away on both possessions and seeing the Bucs convert one of the miscues into a score.

After misfiring on a 51-yard field goal attempt following a fumble recovery on the opening VMI drive of the half, the Bucs recovered another fumble at midfield on the next Keydet drive and wasted no time going to a first play razzle-dazzle double-reverse pass from Reese to running back Antwan Ivey for a 50-yard touchdown. The extra-point was converted and Charleston Southern led 24-14 with 11:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Redshirt freshman defensive back Byron Allen led the Keydets with 11 tackles and one tackle for loss (-2) while redshirt sophomore linebacker Kyle Nikmard posted nine tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss for -10 yards.

Redshirt sophomore defensive back Darius Gaither and junior defensive back Greg Tompkins each had nine tackles for Charleston Southern.

VMI returns home next Saturday to face Big South and state rival Liberty for a 1:30 PM kickoff at Foster Stadium. Charleston Southern will plat Presbyterian at CSU Stadium in N. Charleston next Saturday at 1:30 PM.

VMI HEAD COACH SPARKY WOODS ? “We had two huge plays in this game. One was the fumble on the one-yard line right which gave them a score before half, and then we had a penalty on a score that would put us back in the game. Those two plays, of any, stick out a bunch. We didn't play very well. I thought we played a little better defensively than we did a week before, but we were careless with the ball and we got beat on the line of scrimmage- their defensive line beat our offensive line and we were able to stop the run pretty well defensively but weren't able to cover- a big problem we have right now. In the kicking game, it's mostly our kickers and punters, I think, we missed a field goal early in the game that would have given us some a little bit of momentum. We need to take care of the football better. It hurts losing Kyle (Hughes) because it's hard for Timmy to carry the whole load. We competed better in the second half than I thought we did in the first half.”