LEXINGTON, Va. - Zach MacDowall threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns, and the visiting Coastal Carolina Chanticleers scored 31 unanswered points en route to a 31-3 win over the VMI Keydets, Saturday afternoon in Big South football action at Foster Stadium in Lexington, Va.
The Keydets got on the board first Saturday, but the Chanticleers responded with seven points in the first quarter, 10 in the second and a touchdown each in the third and fourth. The Coastal Carolina defense held VMI to 199 total yards with just 125 of those yards coming after the first quarter. VMI mustered just one drive all day that gained more than 40 yards.
VMI's final home game of the season opened on a cool, blustery day, and began with the home team forcing a punt on Coastal's opening drive. The Keydets made steady progress down the field on their opening possession, but freshman quarterback Eric Kordenbrock was intercepted on a fade pass to the near sideline. Josh Norman picked off the pass, giving Coastal the ball for the second time.
The visiting Chants could not take advantage, and VMI responded with a 10-play, 39-yard drive to take the lead. Kordenbrock completed his first three passes to move the Keydets into position, and Jeff Sexton capped the push with a 22-yard field goal to give the home team the lead, 3-0, with 5:14 left in the first.
Coastal (4-5, 3-1 BSC) responded with the first of two lengthy drives, a nine-play, 74-yard effort to snatch the edge right back. MacDowall went five for five, and in fact, that began a stretch of 16 consecutive completions for the CCU quarterback. He capped this drive with a 15-yard strike to Marquel Willis, and with under a minute left in the first quarter, Coastal had a 7-3 lead.
After an exchange of punts, VMI's Marc Ray pinned Coastal on its own 1-yard line, forcing them to come out of their own endzone. The Chanticleers responded decisively, marching 99 yards in just seven plays, keyed by a 53-yard strike to receiver Ben Collins. It was just Collins' second career catch, and led to the touchdown play as MacDowall hooked up with Willis from 18 yards out, giving the visitors a 14-3 edge with 5:03 left in the half.
The Coastal defense forced yet another punt, giving them the ball back on the Keydet 31 yard line. This time, the VMI defense held and Justin Durham kicked a 23-yard field goal, pushing the CCU lead out to 17-3, which would be the score going into the half.
MacDowall was the story of the first half, as the quarterback went 14 of 16 for 191 yards and two scores. The Chanticleers also outgained VMI 226-126 in the opening two quarters.
The second half got underway with another VMI punt, as the Keydets had gained just two first downs since the opening period, and Coastal marched 79 yards in seven plays for a touchdown. MacDowall capped the effort with a two-yard quarterback keeper, and Durham's point after made it CCU 24, VMI 3 with 11 minutes remaining in the third.
VMI moved to the CCU 2 early in the fourth quarter but had the drive end on downs.
The only other points came off a 39-yard interception return by CCU's Keon Cunningham with 1:17 remaining, giving the visitors their final victory margin.
Senior Michael Rainey-Wiles, who had missed the last three contests with a shoulder injury, turned in VMI's lone interception of the day in the second half.
Redshirt junior defensive back Byron Allen posted double-digit tackles with 13 tackles to lead the Keydets on the defensive charts.
The Keydets (3-6, 2-3 BSC) will return to action next Saturday as they travel to Norfolk, Va. to take on the Old Dominion Monarchs. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. The game will be televised by Comcast Network and can be seen on various cables systems throughout the country.
Quotes - VMI Head Coach Sparky Woods
"We're disappointed with the loss and sad for our seniors, in their last home game. I think we played well on special teams, and our defense played pretty well with the exception of their one long drive. Our biggest problem right now is our inability to score. We're not executing like we should and it's my responsibility as a head coach to make sure than we execute better. They have a good team, congratulations to them. We plan on going to Old Dominion with the intentions on beating and upsetting them next week. The players on this team are good people and will come back and work hard next week. We can improve our execution, and if we got the ball in the end zone in the first quarter it would've been a better game."
