INSTITUTE – The West Virginia State University football team generated 485 yards of total offense Saturday afternoon in a season-opening 56-24 win over Chowan University. WVSU outscored Chowan 49-10 in the second and third quarters to secure its largest home nonconference victory since 2008.
Bryan Johnson finished 13-of-18 passing for 204 yards and two touchdowns.
Joe Dailey threw three touchdown passes with 109 yards passing and added two rushing touchdowns.
Justin Pessoa ran for 49 yards for the Yellow Jackets, while
Osama Hurst and
Amare Ary each caught four passes for 64 yards.
Chowan scored the only points of the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead. WVSU responded at the 10:42 mark of the second quarter when
Malik Baker caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Johnson. Following a brief Chowan drive, WVSU engineered an 11-play, 57-yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown run by Dailey.
Chowan scored with 46 seconds remaining in the half, but WVSU answered with a 36-second scoring drive. Hurst caught a 34-yard touchdown pass with four seconds on the clock to give WVSU a 21-10 halftime lead.
The Yellow Jackets received the second-half kickoff and needed eight plays to cover 75 yards, extending the lead to 28-10 on Hurst's second touchdown reception from Dailey. The WVSU defense then forced a fumble recovered by
Otis Guyton Jr., setting up a two-play drive that Dailey finished with an 8-yard touchdown run.
The next two Yellow Jackets drives lasted three plays combined, as Dailey and Baker each scored touchdowns to push the lead to 42-10. WVSU added another score with 2:57 left in the third quarter when
Tony Richardson caught a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 49-10.
Chowan scored with two seconds left in the third quarter. Both teams added touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with
Devin Cox scoring on a 6-yard run to push WVSU's lead to 56-17 before the final score.
The victory marked the largest nonconference home win for the Yellow Jackets since Aug. 30, 2008, when they defeated Lincoln (Mo.) 67-13. The game was the first-ever meeting between WVSU and Chowan.
WVSU returns to action Sept. 5, traveling to Moon Township, Pa., to face Robert Morris University at 6 p.m. The Yellow Jackets return home Sept. 19 to host West Virginia Wesleyan at 1 p.m.
