LEXINGTON, VA. ? Juniors Tim Maypray and Zach Collins each rushed for two touchdowns and eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark while VMI's defense pitched a shutout in its opener for the second straight season as the Keydets blanked Saint Francis (Pa.), 49-0, Saturday afternoon at Foster Stadium in Lexington.

Maypray, the all-purpose yardage machine who ran out of the slotback position his first two years at VMI, made his first start at quarterback and rushed for 116 yards with scoring runs of 52 and 35 yards while Collins turned in his first career 100-yard game with a career-high 112 yards on just two touches with both runs resulting in scores of 62 and 50 yards.

The VMI defense, which shifted to a 3-4 alignment this season, limited Saint Francis to a school and stadium record -4 yards rushing and also forced two fumbles which led to scores.

The Keydets won their fourth consecutive season opener and posted their third blanking over that four-game span.

The Keydets outgained Saint Francis, 444-252, including 418 yards on the ground. VMI also converted 5 of 10 third down conversions while the defense generated 11 tackles-for-loss including four sacks.

SFU quarterback George Little completed 23 of 45 passes for 256 yards while Red Flash wideouts Omar Winston and Antoine Rivera caught seven and six passes, respectively.

The Red Flash had their best opportunity to score when they held the ball for 16 plays and 59 yards while consuming 7:11 off the third and fourth quarter clock, but the drive stalled at the VMI 13.

The Keydets jumped to a 14-0 lead after one quarter scoring on two of their first three possessions. Maypray's 52-yard option keeper on the opening possession produced the contest's first score capping a four-play, 64-yard drive which ended at the 13:17 mark. VMI struck again on the last play of the first period when Collins took an option pitch and raced down the left sideline for a career-long 62-yard score. Collins followed at the 8:22 mark of the second quarter when his second and final rushing attempted resulted in a 50-yard TD run extending VMI's lead to 21-0.

VMI's defense produced the final Keydet score of the first half when Little, pressured by VMI senior linebacker Jacob Rochester tossed an inadvertent lateral that was scooped up by sophomore defensive end Damiso Alexander who raced 46 yards for a touchdown and extending VMI's lead to 28-0 at halftime.

Maypray's second touchdown, a 35-yard option keeper, capped an eight-play, 67-yard drive and pushed the margin to 35-0 with 10:28 left in the third quarter. Keydet junior back Howard Abegesah carried four times for 15 yards to help set up the score.

Fumble recoveries by redshirt freshman Emilio Calvin and freshman Josh Sneed set up VMI's final two touchdowns of the fourth quarter. Junior quarterback Kyle Hughes connected with senior tight end Travis Ludden for an eight-yard TD pass play and Abegesah capped the game's scoring with a one-yard dive with 5:16 left.

Sophomore linebacker Kyle Nikmard led the defensive charts with six tackles including two tackles-for-loss and a sack. Redshirt freshman linebacker A.J. Gross also had six tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss.

Sophomore linebacker Scott Lewis led Saint Francis with 13 tackles including two tackles-for-loss and a sack.

VMI (1-0) travels to Williamsburg next Saturday night to face William & Mary at 7:00 p.m. at Zable Stadium. Saint Francis will host Marist at 1:00 p.m. next Saturday in Loretto, Pa.

HEAD COACH SPARKY WOODS ? “It was fun to final get to play and I was proud of how hard our team played. We sure have to work on some things especially, with the kicking game. I have to commend Saint Francis. They battled the entire game and fought really hard, but I was pleased for the win for VMI and everybody that represents it and excited for where we are at this time. We certainly have improvement to make, but today we were victors, and we want to enjoy the victory.”

“I thought we came off the ball pretty good. Tim (Maypray) did a great job of leading us. Kyle (Hughes) did a great job coming in there. We had lot of people playing. I think we had over 50 players playing today so that's exciting. Tim made a bunch of huge runs and Zack (Collins) made a great one that got us started. We got a little momentum and I was extremely proud of how we came out in the second half and started fast again.”