Monday, September 25, 2017

#23 Bowie State Batters Shaw Bears 76-7 in CIAA Conference Opener

BOWIE, Maryland -- The #23 Bowie State University Bulldogs (4-0, 1-0 CIAA) jumped on Shaw University (1-3, 0-1 CIAA) early and often, rolling off 35 unanswered points en route to a 76-7 home debut victory to open CIAA conference play on Saturday night. The 76 points ties for second all-time (Lincoln 11/2/2013) in the history of Bowie State football.

Leading the offensive attack for the Bowie State was junior Amir Hall (Bowie, Md.) with 420 passing yards, completing 22-of-33 passes (no interceptions) and tied his own school record of six passing touchdowns. The Bulldogs running back duo of redshirt senior Robert Chesson (Annapolis, Md.) and junior Maurice Williams (Baltimore, Md.) rushed 124 and 101 yards respectively.

Hall and senior Jay Adams (Clinton, Md.) combined to complete passes to 12 different receivers. Leading the Bulldogs in reception yards was junior Lansana Sesay (Bowie, Md.) with 129 yards on just two receptions. Redshirt senior Kerrick Pollock (Miami, Fla.) recorded a team-high five receptions for 89 yards.

Junior Derrick Tate (Baltimore, Md.) paced the powerful Bowie State defense with a team-high eight tackles (5 solo and 3 assisted), which included three tackles for a loss of 18 yards. Redshirt junior Kyle Jackson (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and senior Sean Copeland (Baltimore, Md.) tallied a half-dozen tackles apiece. Redshirt freshman Reicardo Smith (Fort Washington, Md.) and redshirt junior Jaylen Harris contributed four tackles each in the rout. As a team, Bowie State's defense notched a season-high five sacks against Shaw.

The Bulldogs rolled up a school record 748 yards of total offense with 440 coming in the first half of play. However, Bowie State accounted for 11 penalties in the contest for 110 yards, second highest penalty yard total of the season.



Bowie State scored on the opening drive off an 18-yard pass from Hall to Pollock to give the Bulldogs the early 7-0 lead over Shaw. A three and out for the Bears resulted in BSU's Chesson scoring on a 23-yard rush, following the extra point from sophomore Gene Carson (Accokeek, Md.) to extend their lead 14-0 at the 9:30 mark. An out-of-sync Bears team went three and out again the next possession down only to allow the Bulldogs to add to their score after a 46-yard pass from Hall to redshirt sophomore Brandon Abrams (Baltimore, Md.) for BSU's third-straight touchdown of the game in the first quarter.

Despite the early deficit, the Bears were still in the contest thanks to penalties from the Bulldogs that led to first downs for Shaw but an attempted field goal from Beni Kinsemi (Charlotte, NC) was partially blocked by BSU redshirt junior Jaylen Harris (Clinton, Md.) as the Bears trailed 21-0 with 2:42 remaining in the first stanza.

Bowie State would add 14 more to the scoreboard ignited by an 80-yard touchdown reception by Sesay, followed by a 20-yard touchdown reception redshirt junior Brandon Britton (Columbia, Md.) that pushed the Bulldogs lead to 35-0 heading into the second quarter.

After scoring another touchdown and field goal by the Bulldogs to lead 45-0 over Shaw, the Bears finally got on the scoreboard when Vidal Woodruff (Tampa, Fla.) connected with Michael Sherman (Powder Springs, Ga.) for a 20-yard pass, catch and score to close out the first half.

The second half started pretty much like the first half with Bowie State scoring 17 points in the third and 14 in the fourth quarter. Carson drilled a 28-yard field goal for the first Bulldogs' points in the third at the 11:36 mark. Marquise Watts recorded his first touchdown of the season, scoring on a 4-yard reception from Hall with 4:40 left in the third quarter. Chesson punched it in for the second time in the game, this time from 38 yards out a little over a minute later.

Bowie State's Adams recorded his first touchdown of the season, rushing for a 1-yard score at the 12:21 mark of the fourth quarter to push the Bulldogs cushion to 69-7. Redshirt junior Adam Gillis (Lanham, Md.) scored the final rushing touchdown of the contest, pounding in from 3-yards out to with 5:45 remaining to account for the final margin.

Shaw finished with 208 yards of total offense that included 74 rushing and 134 passing. Woodruff completed 13-of-29 passing for 137 yards, but was intercepted three times and was responsible for one touchdown.

Sherman had a team-best 107 yards rushing on 19 carries and a touchdown while freshman Daniel Bender (Jacksonville, FL) had six receptions for 79 yards.

Hakiem Swann (Portsmouth, Va.) led the Bears defense with a game-high 10 total tackles (7 solo). Devon Hunt (Rockingham, N.C.) added eight tackles, one sack and a tackle for loss while Kevin Sherman (Powder Springs, Ga.) contributed seven tackles and a tackle for loss.

Bowie State will hit the road for the fourth time in five weeks, traveling to Fayetteville (N.C.) State next Saturday (9/30) with kickoff in the Luther "Nick" Geralds Stadium set for 1 p.m.

BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

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