CHUCK STEENBURGH

VMI The VMI defense smothers Charleston Southern's Gerald Stevenson for a loss in Saturday's game in Lexington.

CHUCK STEENBURGH

VMI Charleston Southern's Matt Bach strips the football from VMI's Michael Rainey-Wiles late in the first half. The turnover deep in Buccaneers territory ended a VMI scoring threat.

LEXINGTON -- The giveaways did the Keydets in.

VMI had a punt blocked, another punt returned for a touchdown, a fumble inside the Charleston Southern 10-yard line and a late interception as the Keydets dropped their fourth Big South game, losing 31-21 to the Buccaneers on Saturday at Foster Stadium.

"I think when we look at the film we'll see a lot of players that played really good, but he fumbled the ball, or played really good but got beat on this play. A lot of 'em," VMI coach Sparky Woods said.

The Keydets, who won their first Big South game this season against Presbyterian last week, ran for 355 yards, primarily on the backs of Howard Abegesah and Kyle Hughes.

Abegesah, who was the conference offensive player of the week after running for 165 yards and scoring three touchdown against the Blue Hose last week, ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries Saturday. He scored on a 46-yard run in the second quarter and on a 6-yard carry in the third, each time tying the score after Charleston Southern had taken a lead.

Hughes ran for 89 yards on seven carries, the bulk of it coming on a 66-yard touchdown run on VMI's second play from scrimmage. The score gave the Keydets their only lead of the game, 7-0.

The Bucs answered with a 90-yard scoring drive with quarterback A.J. Toscano hitting passes of 22, 12 and 18 yards. Toscano completed 19 of 24 passes for 193 yards. He also scored on a six-yard touchdown run.

Six of the eight Bucs receivers who caught passes, made catches of 10 or more yards.

"They hit us again with short, with five-yard passes that turned into eight more yards," Woods said.

CSU's Kenny Johnson blocked Marc Ray's punt on the Keydets' second possession. Though VMI forced a three-and-out, the ensuing Bucs punt pushed the Keydets back to their own 1. Ray's next punt, to midfield, was returned 50 yards for a touchdown by Antwan Ivey.

VMI came back, with Abegesah dashing 46 yards for a touchdown on the next drive to tie the score at 14. Then, Josh Wine stripped the ball from Toscano at the VMI 23 and Juan Thrasher picked it up at the 17. The Keydets drove again to the CSU 5.

But CSU's Matt Bach yanked the ball away from Michael Rainey-Wiles on an option pitch and returned it to the VMI 47.

Nine plays later, Ivey was scoring on a four-yard touchdown run, giving Charleston Southern a 21-14 halftime lead.

"We get the ball down there and we're getting ready to go up and they not only take the ball away from us, but they bring it back," Woods said.

Despite losing right guard Bo Wren to a knee injury on the second play of the third quarter, VMI mounted a 73-yard scoring drive capped by Abegesah's six-yard touchdown run to even the score at 21.

CSU's John Paglia missed a 33-yard field-goal attempt at the start of the fourth quarter, and the VMI defense forced another field-goal try by stopping the Bucs at the 1 after a first down at the 2. This time Paglia hit from 18 yards out for a 24-21 lead with 6:10 remaining in the game.

After a 22-yard kickoff return by Tim Maypray, the Keydets had the ball at their 26, but on third-and-8, Hughes was intercepted by CSU's Andrew McCain at the 30.

McCain returned the ball to the 24. It took B.J. Hackworth two carries to cover the 24 yards for the score and a 31-21 lead with less than five minutes to go.

"I'm sad for the team," Woods said. "I'm sad for VMI. I think they deserved better than what our football team did today."

Charleston So. 7 14 0 10--31

VMI 7 7 7 0--21

First Quarter

VMI--Hughes 66 run (J.Sexton kick), 9:28.

ChSo--Toscano 6 run (Paglia kick), 3:31.

Second Quarter

ChSo--Ivey 50 punt return (Paglia kick), 13:57.

VMI--Abegesah 46 run (J.Sexton kick), 10:57.

ChSo--Ivey 2 run (Paglia kick), :28.

Third Quarter

VMI--Abegesah 6 run (J.Sexton kick), 4:14.

Fourth Quarter

ChSo--FG Paglia 18, 6:10.

ChSo--Hackworth 12 run (Paglia kick), 4:54.

A--4,217.

ChSo VMI

First downs 20 16

Rushes-yards 43-139 50-335

Passing 193 52

Comp-Att-Int 19-25-0 4-10-1

Return Yards 69 4

Punts-Avg. 3-41.7 4-29.8

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-32 6-47

Time of Possession 32:43 27:17

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Charleston Southern, Hackworth 6-50, Moon 8-41, Ivey 11-24, Stevenson 6-12, Toscano 9-12, D.Lee 1-2, Team 2-(minus 2). VMI, Abegesah 20-160, Hughes 7-89, Maypray 12-55, Talley 3-20, Z.Collins 2-14, Itoka 3-8, Rainey-Wiles 3-(minus 11).

PASSING--Charleston Southern, Toscano 19-24-0-193, Neal 0-1-0-0. VMI, Hughes 4-10-1-52.

RECEIVING--Charleston Southern, Krakue 6-57, Stevenson 3-33, Neal 3-22, Chalmers 2-24, Ivey 2-14, T.Jones 1-22, Moon 1-12, Coffman 1-9. VMI, Maypray 2-1, Rainey-Wiles 1-35, M.Scott 1-16.