N. CHARLESTON, S.C.  -  Redshirt junior tailback Chaz Jones scored three rushing touchdowns and the VMI defense picked off four passes en route to a 34-16 Big South road victory over Charleston Southern Saturday afternoon at Buccaneer Field.

VMI evened its Big South record to 2-2 and 3-4 overall while the Bucs dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 2-5, 0-3 in the conference.

The Keydets broke open a tight game with 17 straight points in the fourth quarter to grab their initial road win of 2010 and the first since a 30-21 victory over Presbyterian College on October 24, 2009. It was also VMI's first win against Charleston Southern since 2005 and the first at North Charleston since 2002.

The VMI defense carried the day with the four picks and limited Charleston Southern to 60 yards rushing on the day - the fewest yards allowed an opponent this year. Taking advantage of excellent field position throughout most of the afternoon, the VMI offense converted 5-of-5 red zone scoring opportunities.

Jones became the first VMI back to rush for three touchdowns in a game since Howard Abegesah produced three scores in the win against Presbyterian in 2009.

VMI had intercepted just three passes on the season heading into the game, but more than doubled its output by the end of the afternoon. The tone was set early in the contest on CSU's opening drive when cornerback Greg Walker snatched a batted pass and raced 58 yards down the left for the game's first score. The extra point by Jeff Sexton was good and the VMI led, 7-0, with 11:58 left in the first quarter.

The Bucs came back to knot the score at 7-7 when standout receiver and return man Gerald Stevenson caught a dump pass over the middle and bounced out of the pack before racing down the left boundary for a 69-yard touchdown at the 11:00 mark of the first quarter.

Charleston Southern  later in quarter assumed what turned out to be its only lead of the game when an 8-play, 80-yard drive produced a 24-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Andrew Trudnowski to redshirt-senior wideout Kwame Krakue. Senior kicker John Paglia missed the extra point and the Bucs led 13-7 with 5:27 left in the period. The key play of the drive was a 38-yard pass to Deon Lee to the VMI 38.

VMI freshman quarterback Eric Kornenbrock made his first career start, but was forced to leave the game on VMI's second drive when his throwing hand was bruised executing a swing pass. Redshirt junior quarterback Cam Jones took over midway the first quarter and engineered VMI's longest and most time consuming drive of the afternoon that would put them back on top for good.

The Keydets, sparked by a 29-yard pass to Tracy Hairston to the CSU 5, capped the possession two plays later on a Chaz Jones two-yard dive into the end zone with 12:42 left in the second quarter. The extra point was good and the VMI offense had moved 76 yards in eight plays for the go-ahead points.

The VMI defense bottled up the Bucs on the next possession and a poor punt by CSU's Andy Brown went 17 yards to give VMI the ball at the CSU 38. A 23-yard run by Chaz Jones to the CSU 15 opened the drive, but a one-yard rushing loss and two straight incompletions forced VMI to settle for a Sexton 30-yard field goal to push the lead to 17-13 with 6:18 left in the first half and the tally held up as the teams went to halftime.

VMI opened the second half by fumbling away on its second play from scrimmage at its own 25, but the Keydet defense began a string of several second half defensive stops that would prove decisive. Cornerback Byron Allen knifed in on a run blitz to halt CSU back Demarcus Moon for no gain on third-and-one at the 16, and Josh Atkinson was tossed down for a three-yard pass loss the next play to squash the drive.

The Bucs were able to close within 17-16 on their next possession, however, when Paglia knocked through a 38-yard field goal at the 8:30 mark of the period.

Charleston Southern would not cross midfield on its next four drives which set the stage for VMI's fourth quarter outburst.

Forced to punt from its own 22 early in the final period, a high snap forced CSU punter Brown to bail out his punt attempt and run, but VMI's Bryan Barnson wrapped him up at the CSU 4 and two plays later, Chaz Jones dove in from two-yard out to break the game open and put VMI on top, 24-16, with 9:38 remaining.

The Keydets would later tack on insurance scores when linebacker Alex Ray's interception return to the CSU 37 set up a Sexton 34-yard field goal with 7:33 left. The ensuing Buc drive would stall in downs at its Charleston Southern 12, and the Keydets quickly put the game away three plays later when Jones slammed in from  one-yard out and the extra-point by Sexton pushed the final margin to 34-16 with 2:36 left.

Charleston Southern's final bid for points ended on its last drive when Michael Johnson picked off a Trudnowski pass in the end zone with 30 ticks left in the contest.

VMI was outgained 326-242 for the game and overcame the short end of a 35:47 to 24:13 count in time of possession by holding CSU to six of 19 in third down conversions and producing four takeaways. Redshirt junior linebacker A.J. Gross racked up a career-high 17 tackles while nose guard Josh Wine piled up a career-high 12 stops including two key sacks for 11 yards. The Keydet defense finished the day with seven tackles-for-loss that backed up the CSU offense for a total of 40 yards.

Chaz Jones led VMI rushers with 51 yards to accompany his three touchdowns while Tracy Hairston, T.J. Talley, and Barnson each snagged three aerials. Keydet QB Cam Jones completed 10 of 29 passes for 114 yards and did not throw an interception.

VMI successfully limited the dynamic Stevenson's touches and impact following his long TD reception in the first quarter, and the senior finished with six catches for 60 yards following his scoring catch and run. Stevenson was also quieted to two punt returns for 15 yards and never touched the ball on a kickoff return after running back a pair for scores last week against Gardner-Webb. 

VMI will travel to West Point, N.Y. next Saturday to face Army in a noon kickoff that will be televised nationally by CBS College Sports.

VMI HEAD COACH SPARKY WOODS

"We're happy to win. We hadn't beaten Charleston Southern in a long time and to win on the road made it a big victory for us. I'm proud of our team and proud of VMI for getting the victory. We've played hard in the past in games and not won, and today we were able to win."

"We got to keep taking one step at a time. We've had a lot of people hurt and so have they, but our young guys stepped up and made some plays and that's encouraging."

"We didn't turn the ball over much and we came back after being down (13-7). Our special teams helped give us a chance to get back in it. Overall, I think the fact that we continued to play hard and believed we could win - it was encouraging for us. We had a young quarterback out and we brought back Cam (Jones) and our defense kept coming up with some plays in the second half. I thought it was a team victory. Offensively, we were able to get some runs."