Nov. 6, 2010
Final Stats
LEXINGTON, Va. - Zach MacDowall completed 16-straight passes at one point, throwing two touchdowns and rushing for one, to lead Coastal Carolina to a 31-3 win at VMI.
With the win Coastal improves to 3-1 in Big South play and 4-5 overall, and will host defending Big South champions Liberty next Saturday at 1 pm. VMI falls to 3-6 overall and 2-3 in the league.
MacDowall opened the day with a completion before throwing back-to-back incompletions. From that point, he hit his next 16, which started toward the end of the first quarter and extended into the third quarter, completing his first three of the third quarter. He finished the day 18-of-24 for 254 yards with a late interception and touchdown passes of 15 and 18 yards to Marquel Willis, adding a two-yard rushing score. During the streak, MacDowall had completions of 14, 7, 8, 12, 15, (-5), 17, 9, 21, 53, 18, 12, 9, 28, 2 and 29 yards.
VMI opened the game with good field position in its first two drives thanks to short punts. Coastal escaped on the first drive when Josh Norman picked off a pass inside the 10 to end the first drive. On the Keydets' next drive, they had first and goal from the two but were forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal, which Jeff Sexton made for a 3-0 lead.
Coastal answered right back, moving to a hurry-up offense and covering the 74 yards in nine plays and 4:17. MacDowall was 5-of-5 for 56 yards on the drive, including a 15-yard touchdown to Willis for the 7-3 lead.
Midway into the second quarter, VMI backed Coastal up inside its one after a 34-yard punt. Chants' quarterback MacDowall gained one yard on first down then David Duran for a 21-yard gain. Two plays later, MacDowall scrambled and hit Ben Collins for a 53-yard completion, the first of the year for the senior tight end and third of his career. MacDowall capped the drive with an 18-yard pass to Willis, capping a seven-play, 99-yard drive. MacDowall was once again perfect on the drive, completing 3-of-3 passes for 92 yards.
After a quick three-and-out, Coastal got the ball on the VMI 31 after a short punt and 12-yard return by Niccolo Mastromatteo. While the Chants got to the one, and were going to go for it on fourth-and-one but a penalty forced a 23-yard Justin Durham field goal for a 17-3 lead at the break.
To start the second half, Coastal's defense forced a three-and-out and the CCU offense kept the momentum, driving 79 yards in seven plays to take a 24-3 lead. MacDowall was 3-of-3 passing during the drive, including a key 29-yard completion to Matt Hazel on third down. MacDowall then found paydirt from two yards out for his fifth rushing TD of the season and 14th of his career.
As the third quarter ended and fourth began, VMI threatened, having first down on the CCU 11. The Keydets would get to the two and go for it on fourth down but Andrae Jacobs made a stop for no gain, keeping the score 24-3. Jacobs finished the game with eight stops with a sack and pass breakup, while Desmond Steward paced the CCU defense with nine stops.
Coastal was content to run the ball and drain time off the clock during the fourth quarter, but tacked on a final score when Keon Cunningham picked off a pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown with 1:17 left to provide the final margin. It marked the second time in as many weeks Cunningham came through with an interception and the second time in as many week CCU returned a pick for a TD (as Dominique Davenport did the same at Gardner-Webb).
The Chants finished with 354 yards of offense while VMI had 199 -- getting 128 of those on their first four drives of the game.
The Chants will close the 2010 regular season with consecutive home games, hosting Liberty (Nov. 13) and Charleston Southern (Nov. 20). Both of those final two home games will start at 1 pm. The Liberty game will Hall of Fame weekend and the Charleston Southern game will be Senior Day.
