General Wins Silver Shako
17
Winner VMI VMI 3-3 , 2-1
13
The Citadel CIT 0-7 , 0-4
Winner
VMI VMI
3-3 , 2-1
17
Final
13
The Citadel CIT
0-7 , 0-4
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
VMI VMI 7 3 0 7 17
CIT The Citadel 0 10 3 0 13

Game Recap: Football |

VMI Football tops The Citadel 17-13 in Military Classic of the South

Keydets reclaim Silver Shako for first time since 2020

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The VMI Football team visited Charleston for the annual "Military Classic of the South" on Saturday afternoon, holding on for a 17-13 victory and reclaiming the Silver Shako.
 
The win not only moves the Keydets to 3-3 and 2-1 in the Southern Conference, but also snaps a two-game losing streak in the series to reclaim the Shako.
 
"It means an awful lot, this was a great atmosphere, and it was obvious how important it was to a lot of people," said head coach Danny Rocco on the Silver Shako win. "Our alumni, our cadets, our comms staff, Major General Wins, our athletic department and obviously my staff and our football team."
 
Key Stats
- Hunter Rice rushes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, marking his third career multi-touchdown game and second this season
- Chance Knox has season-high 98 yards on nine receptions, the most receiving yards since logging 114 last season against The Citadel
- Tahj Summey registers second interception of career
- Josh Knapp leads the way with 9.0 tackles; Eller registers 8.0
- Jack Culbreath punts three times, including a 49-yarder and twice pins the Bulldogs inside their own 20
- Caden Beck earns a new career-high with his 50-yd. field goal in second quarter
 


 


Catching up with Coach (Rocco)
On setting the tone with a touchdown on first drive
"We wanted to be very aggressive today. We went for it on fourth down on that first drive which led to a touchdown. We had our mind made up that we were going to be aggressive today. It would have been nice to duplicate that in the second quarter, but we got one in the end when we really needed it."
 
On the play of Hunter Rice and other veteran leaders
"The seniors played really hard and I saw how much it meant to them. At the end of the day, it was a team win. We made some plays in the kicking game. Jack had some big kicks that flipped the field and give us good field position. We're excited to get home and build on this one and be home for the next two games."
 


 
What's Next
The Keydets return home, facing Samford on Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m.   
 
A Closer look
The Keydets held the ball for nearly seven minutes to open the game, picking up fourth down and third down conversions before Hunter Rice bowled into the endzone for his second touchdown of the season.
 
The Citadel would clang their first field goal attempt off the upright (no good), but hit their second to get on the board. After the Bulldogs attempted an onside kick, Caden Beck hit a 50-yarder to make it 10-3 with 11:34 remaining in the half. The Citadel would tie the game up and were driving for the go ahead score, but Evan Eller's hit led to a Tahj Summey interception.
 
The teams traded possessions to start the third, with The Citadel taking its first lead (13-10) at the 4:57 mark in the third quarter.
 
VMI ultimately earned the win in the fourth quarter by going on a 12-play, 86-yard drive in the middle of the period that took up 6:13 of valuable possession time. The winning drive was capped by a 19-yard touchdown scamper by Rice around the corner with just 4:42 to play as the junior extended his arms out to hit the pylon and cross the plane of the endzone for the winning score.
 
 



 
 
 
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