Witt Leads Chowan Past Virginia State Trojans On Road

PETERSBURG, Virginia – The Chowan Football team gutted out a 45-38 victory on the road to Virginia State to halt the Trojans' CIAA Northern Division title hopes on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 45, Virginia State 38

RECORDS | Chowan 4-4 (3-2, 3-1), Virginia State 4-4 (4-2, 2-2)

LOCATION | Petersburg, Va. (Rogers Stadium)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

For the first time in program history the Chowan Hawks nearly had two players rush for 100 yards in the same game. Bryce Witt posted a career-high 136 yards on the ground, while Tyrell Freeman came up just short with 99 yards rushing with a touchdown. Freeman needs 124 yards rushing to become the second Hawk to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.

Bryce Witt accounted for five touchdowns in the contest completing 19-25 passes for 214 yards and four touchdowns to go with his 136 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Jackson Brooks sealed the victory with a 28-yd field goal in the fourth quarter.

Torry Baker led the receivers with five catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. Imeek Watkins caught four passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns.

Chowan's defense forced three interceptions and two sacks in the victory. Virginia State's offense came from their signal caller, who accounted for 380 of the 397 total yards.

Jacquae Peart led the defense with nine tackles. Treielle PearsoBn had four tackles for loss and a sack. George Parker, Connor O'Brien, and Bryan Bryant picked up the VSU quarterback.

Brian Hopper Jr. blocked a punt on special teams.

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter:

On the opening drive of the game, Bryce Witt connected with Adrian McNeil for 24 yards and Torry Baker for 26 yards to put the Hawks in scoring range. Witt found Baker for a 12-yd gain before Tyrell Freeman punched it in from 1-yd out for the 7-0 lead.

The Chowan defense forced a punt but the Hawks gave the ball back to Virginia State the next play on a fumble.

With good field position, the Trojans would knot the game at 7-all just 2:06 later.

Chowan would be forced to punt on the next possession, but would get the ball back near midfield as George Parker picked off the pass for his fourth of the season.

Second Quarter:

Brian Hopper Jr. blocked the punt and gave the Hawks great field position at the VSU 19. Bryce Witt found Imeek Watkins two plays later to put the Hawks up 14-7 with 14:44 remaining in the half.

Chowan would go up 21-7 as Bryan Bryant picked off a pass on the next possession near midfield. Tyrell Freeman carried the load before Bryce Witt found Torry Baker on the 2-yd strike for the score.

Virginia State's next drive was aided on a penalty before finding the endzone to cut the deficit to 21-14.

Tyrell Freeman posted a 31 yard run on the next drive following an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Trojans. Bryce Witt connected with Paul Gooden to push the score to 28-14 with 3:09 remaining.

VSU tallied a 25-yd field goal to close out the scoring in the half, 28-17.

Third Quarter:

Virginia State marched down the field on nine plays for 76 yards as the Trojans found the endzone. The two-point conversion would fail to keep the score at 28-23.

The score would not hold long as Bryce Witt rushed for 45 yards to find the endzone, three minutes later to put the Hawks up 35-23.

The Trojans would not be turned away scoring quickly to pull the score to within five, 35-30, with 4:40 remaining in the quarter. VSU recovered the onside kick and struck quickly on two plays to take their first lead at 38-35.

The Chowan drive stalled on fourth down at the VSU 30 on the next drive. Connor O'Brien picked off the pass to give the Hawks the ball back at midfield.

Fourth Quarter:

On the next Hawk drive, Bryce Witt found Imeek Watkins in space and raced past the defense for a 31-yd touchdown to regain the lead at 42-38 with 13:40 remaining.

VSU's drive would stall on fourth down as Rafiq Abdul-Wahid registered a sack to hand the ball back to the Hawks at the CU 41.

The Hawks would produce a 12 play 54-yard drive that took 7:20 off the clock and resulted in points. The Trojans thought they would get the ball back with 7:20 left but a 13-yd scamper by Bryce Witt on fourth down allowed the drive to continue. The Hawks would drive the ball into the redzone before Jackson Brooks converted from 28-yards out to put the Hawks up 45-38.

Virginia State looked to mount a comeback drive, but the Hawks defense would pick up a big sack by Treielle Pearson on fourth-and-one from the CU 7 to allow Chowan the victory formation.

UP NEXT

Chowan returns home for their final home game of the season as the Hawks host Lincoln (Pa.) on Saturday, November 3. The game is Hall of Fame and Senior Day for the Hawks. Kick-off is slated for 1pm.

CHOWAN UNIVERSITY HAWKS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS