Box Score Gustavious Dames brought Virginia Union's playoff hopes back from the brink.

After the visitors from Elizabeth City State University took a one-point edge in the fourth quarter on a field goal, Dames, a Union sophomore receiver, returned the ensuing kickoff back 100 yards for a touchdown, giving the Panthers a five-point lead in a game they would ultimately win 37-21 at Hovey Field.

The 100-yard kickoff return was the longest in the storied history of the VUU football program.  The previous record was a 97-yard return by Michael Dolby against Fayetteville State University on August 27, 2005.

"He's a sophomore that's eager to try to put the team on his back at that point," Union head coach Mark James said. "It was deep, our normal rule is to take a knee. He probably would have gotten an earful if he didn't score, but he came back and did a great job."

Union (6-3, 4-1 CIAA) entered the game ranked No. 10 in Super Region Two with just one remaining game, next Saturday at Virginia State, the No. 3-ranked team in the region. A loss to the Vikings (4-5, 2-3) would have put a dent in the Panthers' hopes of jumping into the top eight of the region rankings and potentially making the Division II playoffs.

Instead, the win keeps that dream alive. And it was a hard-earned victory.

"We wanted to come out and make a statement," senior linebacker Karl Calhoun said. "Especially with what's going on in the CIAA, we wanted to control what we could control. We came out sluggish, but we always had faith we could come back in the second half."

Calhoun picked off Vikings quarterback Daquan Neal's first pass off the game and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown, but ECSU was in control the rest of the half.

Neal and the Vikings marched 74 yards in 19 plays on their next drive, capped by a 2-yard run from Neal that tied the game.

The score remained 7-7 until Deon Yarborough hauled in a 21-yard pass from Vikings backup quarterback Navarro Price with 12 minutes, 44 seconds to play in the half. Joshua Laverty's kick was blocked after the score, but he added a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give ECSU a 16-7 edge at the break.

Out of halftime, the Panthers cut into the lead with a 42-yard scoring strike from Darius Taylor to Lavatiae Kelly. Union recovered a fumble on the Vikings' first drive of the third quarter and cashed in with a 37-yard field goal from Jefferson Souza for the team's first lead at 17-16.

Laverty supplied a 41-yard field goal to briefly retake the lead at the start of the fourth, but Dames took it right back. He let the kickoff bounce past him into the end zone, where he fielded it a few steps deep.

"At first, I didn't see the ball in the air, that's why I let it bounce," said Dames, who also caught six passes for 64 yards. "Once I grabbed it, I saw that I had one player to beat, I gave him the move and just turned on the jets."

Later in the fourth, Taylor added a 19-yard scoring pass to junior Jewison Dawkins, and senior Arron Baker scored on the ground from 12 yards out to create some late separation in the victory.

"One of the things about my young men, we're a very young team this year, and we don't give up," James said. "We knew that if we had time, we had an opportunity."