Bowie State 27, Virginia State 17

October 29, 2005

(PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA) The day started with Virginia State holding on to first place in the CIAA Eastern Division and Bowie State and Shaw tied for second. What made this scenario even more interesting was the possibility of either an outright divisional championship by Virginia State or a three-way tie between VSU, Bowie State and Shaw. Well, after three hours, the Bulldogs of Bowie State (8-2 / 5-2 in the CIAA) left VSU’s Rogers Stadium with a 27-17 victory and the CIAA Eastern Division crown. With the win and by virtue of Shaw’s 21-14 loss to Saint Paul’s, the Bulldogs advance to the CIAA Championship game next Saturday (11/5) in Durham against North Carolina Central.

Bowie State quarterback Lamar Manigo scored first for the visitors, running for a 41-yard touchdown at the 13:29 mark of the opening quarter. Ronald Walls converted the extra point, giving BSU a 7-0 lead. Musa Conteh booted a career best 49 yard field goal with 2:10 left in the first quarter, trimming the VSU deficit to 7-3.

Glen Thomas burned the Virginia State secondary for a 91 yard touchdown reception from Manigo and a 13-3 Bowie State lead. Isaac Redman penetrated the Trojans’ end zone with 8:32 left in the second quarter, scoring from 5 yards out, increasing Bowie State’s lead to 20-3. The Bulldogs’ Terrence Stafford picked off a Michael Terry pass and scampered 56 yards down the VSU sideline for a 56 yard touchdown and a 27-3 halftime lead. Bowie State showed why they are the top ranked defensive team in Division II, holding Virginia State to 36 total yards in the first half.

Virginia State (6-4 / 5-2 in the CIAA) scored cut the Bowie State lead 21-10 on a 21 yard touchdown run by reserve quarterback Thomas Boyd. VSU’s P.J. Berry electrified the 7,223 in attendance when he dodged and weaved through the BSU defense for a 62 yard touchdown from Boyd, narrowing the gap to 27-17 with 12:40 left to play. Virginia State had an opportunity to cut the Bowie State lead to 27-20. However, Conteh’s 27-yard field goal just missed the left upright with 5:17 remaining in the contest.

Sophomore sensation Isaac Redman led both teams on offense with 124 rushing yards while Manigo completed 5 of 13 passes for 122 yards and one touchdown. With his touchdown toss, Manigo became Bowie State’s All-Time Season leader in touchdown passes with 13 on the year. Redman recorded two more milestones for the Bulldogs by becoming Bowie State’s All-Time Season Leader in Rushing Yards with 1,193 and counting. The old record of 1,073 yards was held by Milton Carr (1975). Redman also broke his own single game rushing attempts record set against Morgan State (9/10/05), rushing the ball 33 times. Boyd jump started the Trojans, completing 5 of 10 passes for 110 yards and led VSU in rushing with 47 yards. P.J. Berry was the primary target of most of VSU’s passes, hauling in six for 96 yards on the afternoon.

Bowie State was led on defense by Stafford’s seven tackles and Sterling Green’s five. Otis Grandson and Yuri Norrell led Virginia State with nine and seven tackles respectively.

“We must first thank God for blessing us with some great young men, some great coaches and we really appreciate the support from the university,” said an excited Bulldogs Head Coach Mike Lynn. “This is something our guys having been working toward since the end of last year … the opportunity to play in the Championship.”