Virginia Union University exploded for 42 points over the final three quarters and rolled past Livingstone College 49-20 in the Willard Bailey Classic on Saturday evening at Hovey Field.
The Panthers improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in CIAA play with the victory, while Livingstone fell to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in conference action.
Virginia Union quarterback
RJ Rosales completed 10 of 13 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns and was named the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player. Rosales connected with
Lyvarius Gilbert on a 31-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter before finding
Montrell Wright for a 10-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.
The Panthers also produced 277 rushing yards on 42 attempts, averaging 6.6 yards per carry.
Tavon McGee rushed for 88 yards on eight carries and scored a touchdown, while
Ramon Brown added 46 yards on nine carries and scored twice.
Raphael Tucker rushed for 57 yards on six carries and a touchdown.
Virginia Union jumped on the scoreboard first when Brown scored on a seven-yard touchdown run with 4:13 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Panthers then erupted for 21 points in the second quarter.
Jerome Jones scored on a four-yard run to give VUU a 14-0 advantage, and McGee followed with a three-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 21-0.
After a Livingstone score, Rosales connected with Gilbert on a 31-yard touchdown pass with 1:09 remaining in the half, sending the Panthers into the locker room with a
28-7 advantage.
VUU continued its offensive assault to open the second half. Rosales hit Wright for a 49-yard gain on the opening drive, and the Panthers eventually capped the 96-yard drive with their second touchdown pass of the night.
Brown added his second touchdown of the night on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter, and Tucker closed out the scoring for VUU with a 12-yard touchdown run with 5:39 remaining.
Virginia Union finished the night with
491 yards of total offense, including 277 rushing yards and 214 passing yards. The Panthers converted four of seven third-down opportunities and six-for-six in the red zone.
Defensively,
Ahmad Ross was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player after recording
nine total tackles, including a tackle for loss and a sack.
Christian Aiken added eight tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. As a team, VUU recorded five sacks and 67 total tackles.
The Panthers also got a strong performance from punter
Joshua Mitchell, who averaged 43.7 yards on three punts, including a 50-yarder.
"Our message for the week was regroup, reset and respond, and I thought our guys did all three," said VUU Head Football Coach Dr. Alvin Parker. "We came out fast and were able to make some big plays on both sides of the ball. It's always good to get that first win under your belt, especially after the way we challenged our guys to respond this week. We'll enjoy this one for a short time, but our focus will quickly turn to next Saturday. There's still a lot of work ahead of us, and we have to continue getting better each week."
Virginia Union now travels to
Murfreesboro, N.C., to face Chowan University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 12.
