NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State football team dropped its first road game of the season 31-10 to Old Dominion (1-0) on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium in front of 21,944 fans.
The Spartans (1-1) never led, and two of their three turnovers led directly to Monarch touchdowns.
Jalyn Daniels paced the offense with 84 yards on 11 carries, averaging 7.6 per attempt with a long of 35.
Paul Billups II led all receivers with seven catches for 49 yards, and
Deljay Bailey completed 14 of 20 passes for 94 yards while adding a three-yard rushing touchdown.
Shamar Vick added 23 yards on three carries, including a 19-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Jamauri Knox hauled in a 21-yard reception.
Marco Peery connected on a 37-yard field goal.
Defensively, Brenden Thompson led the way with 11 tackles, while
Jordan Saunders posted nine stops, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Josiah Davis recorded an interception and a seven-yard sack, and Eugene Allen added a sack for a 10-yard loss.
Norfolk State won the coin toss and elected to receive, then moved the ball 93 yards on the opening possession without scoring. Bailey kept it up the middle for 30 yards on third-and-18 to flip the field, and a personal foul on the Monarchs gave the Spartans another first down after a false start and a delay of game had backed them up. On third-and-3 from the ODU 35, Daniels broke free for what would have been a 35-yard touchdown, but Zion Frink stripped the ball at the 2 and Brandon Crutchfield recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
Old Dominion took over at its 20 and went 80 yards in six plays, capped by a 13-yard Quinn Henicle keeper with 4:37 left in the first.
The Monarchs made it 14-0 early in the second on a drive that survived a holding penalty. Facing third-and-19 from their own 46, they converted on a 38-yard Henicle completion to Leon Haughton Jr. that reached the NSU 16. A Spartan sack and an ODU false start pushed the ball back to the NSU 11, but Henicle found TJ Johnson for an 11-yard touchdown with 13:46 to play in the half.
Norfolk State's defense answered on the next series. Davis dropped Henicle for a seven-yard sack to set up third-and-11 with 8:48 left, and Allen followed with a 10-yard sack that forced Old Dominion's first punt of the night at 7:40.
The Monarchs pushed the lead to 17-0 on a 37-yard Nathanial Eichner field goal with 3:15 remaining in the half.
The Spartans finally got on the board in the closing minute of the first half. Davis picked off Henicle at the ODU 35 with 1:17 to go and returned it 13 yards to the 22.
Brevin Caldwell caught a nine-yard pass to the 13, Billups followed with a 10-yard grab inside the red zone, and Bailey scored on a three-yard keeper with 25 seconds left to make it 17-7 at the break.
Norfolk State pulled within 17-10 midway through the third. A roughing-the-kicker penalty on fourth-and-2 extended a stalled drive, and Daniels followed with a 16-yard run to the ODU 23 before Peery connected from 37 yards with 9:03 on the clock.
That was as close as it got. Old Dominion answered with a 10-play, 76-yard drive that ended on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Johnson. On Norfolk State's next possession, Bailey was sacked for a 29-yard loss and fumbled, with Jackson Forrest recovering at the NSU 12. Henicle scored two plays later, and the Monarchs led 31-10 with 42 seconds left in the quarter.
The defense held from there. Old Dominion did not score in the fourth, and Saunders forced and recovered a fumble at the ODU 35 early in the period to hand the offense a short field. Norfolk State lost three yards on four plays and threw an interception at the ODU 16.
The Spartans reached the ODU 15 on their final drive, a 10-play march that consumed 5:12, before turning it over on downs at the 21 with 4:24 remaining.
Henicle threw for 137 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 68 yards and two more. Old Dominion scored on all five of its red-zone trips.
QUOTES
Head coach Michael Vick on the start:
"We came out fighting, came out swinging, and put ourselves in a position to score early. Then we had a fumble. You can't turn it over against a team like that. We knew we were going to have to capitalize on every possession we had."
On converting takeaways:
"You've got to take advantage of the turnovers. You get a short field against a team like this and you've got to turn it into points. The first interception, we turned into seven. The toughest thing for a coach to watch is turnovers not being converted into points. When you get sustainable drives, you've got to finish them."
On protecting the quarterback:
"Our quarterback ran the ball 21 times and got hit 21 times. That's entirely too much. We've got some things to clean up, and we've got to make sure this week in practice is a lot better than last week."
On the defense:
"That's another thing we've got to correct — giving up the third-and-longs. We get off the field in those situations and you create a different dynamic for our offense. I asked our defense to give us two takeaways, and back-to-back weeks they've given us takeaways. Outside of that, we let the quarterback break contain twice. He was mobile, he extended plays, and he did some things we didn't think he'd be able to do."
On the cross-town matchup:
"It was great to be part of this game, giving the people in the 757 an opportunity to come out and see what both teams were really made of. A lot of credit to that team — they're a good football team. We'd love to do it again in the future."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- 220 total yards on 60 plays (3.7 avg.); Old Dominion had 319 on 55 (5.8)
- 126 rushing yards on 40 carries
- Three turnovers — two lost fumbles and an interception
- 2-of-3 in the red zone; Old Dominion was 5-for-5
- Time of possession: NSU 32:19, ODU 27:41
- Two sacks for 17 yards, one interception and one fumble recovery
- Peery handled all three kickoffs and punted once for 44 yards
- Jacob Nichols punted three times, averaging 41.0 with one inside the 20
UP NEXT
Norfolk State stays on the road for a second straight week, traveling to Charlottesville to face Virginia on Friday, Sept. 11 at Scott Stadium. It will be the first meeting between the two programs.
