Despite the 19-17 loss to VSU, Chris Patterson had another good day with eight catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.
Box Score Petersburg, VA – The Johnson C. Smith University football team suffers their first loss of the season to Virginia State University on September 28th at Rogers Stadium. JCSU moves to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the CIAA; while the Trojans improve to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
The Golden Bulls managed to produce the first points of the game with a 29 yard field goal. Freshman place kicker
Erik Amaya (Kannapolis, NC) capped a 13 play, 79 yard drive to give JCSU a 3-0 lead with 2:08 left in the first quarter. Virginia State eventually responded with a touchdown in the second quarter.
Jordan Anderson crossed the goal line from nine yard out to give VSU a 7-3 advantage. The score remained the same until the second half. The Trojans scored first in the second half after a JCSU turnover. Junior quarterback
Keahn Wallace (Miami, FL) had a pass picked off by Darion Thomas and return 27 yards to the JCSU 28 yard line.
In just three plays, VSU had their second touchdown of the contest. Justin Thorpe completed a 14 yard pass to Jaivon Smallwood, but the extra point attempt failed. The Golden Bulls faced a 13-3 deficit with 11:51 remaining in the third quarter.
On the following drive, Wallace connected with senior receiver
Chris Patterson (Pendleton, SC) for a 42 yard touchdown completion. JCSU cut the Virginia State lead down to 13-10 and score would not change until the fourth quarter.
Both teams' offenses punted on their first two drives of the final quarter. The Golden Bulls finally materialized an 11 play, 74 yard touchdown drive. Wallace scramble to the end zone from 11 yards away to give JCSU a 17-13 lead with 5:14 left to play.
Virginia State came back with an 11 play, 81 yard scoring drive that soaked up 4:35 from the game clock. The Trojans went ahead 19-17 with a six yard pass from Thorpe to Willie Stubblefield with 41 seconds remaining.
JCSU was able to get off four plays in the remaining seconds, but nothing to get in scoring range. The Golden Bulls suffered their first loss in the last eight games and first of the 2013 season.
Wallace completed 28-of-48 pass attempts for 322 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had one TD on the ground, but was sacked four times on the evening. Patterson led all receivers with eight catches for 131 yards and a score. Junior receiver
Avius Capers had seven catches for 52 yards.
Despite the loss, the Golden Bulls defense held Virginia State to a season-low 278 yards of total offense. Senior defensive tackle
Leon Minto (East Elmhurst, NY) had a team-high seven tackles (all solo) including a tackle for a loss. Junior safety
DeAndre Jones (Charleston, MS) had an interception along with two solo tackles.
JCSU returns to the comforts of home for their third conference game of the season. The Golden Bulls will face Lincoln University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 5th at 2:00 p.m. inside the Irwin Belk Complex. Last season, Lincoln had their only win of the year against JCSU in a 55-53 shootout in Lions Stadium.
