CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Buccaneer Defense again had a good showing, holding the V.M.I. offense to three field goals as Charleston Southern extended the winning streak to 12 games, with a Big South Conference win over the Keydets 27-22 Saturday afternoon at Buccaneer Field.

The 7-0 start ties the school record for victories in a season, and is the second time ever that the Bucs have started the Conference season 1-0, with the other coming two years ago with their first-ever conference victory over V.M.I.

Quarterback Collin Drafts was near perfection, despite throwing four interceptions. Keydet defensive back Christian Kelly had three of the interceptions. He completed 18-24 passes for three touchdowns and 211 yards. Junior Maurice Price had 12 catches for 166 yards, including an 80-yard pass for CSU's final touchdown. Price became the all-time leading receiver in the Big South with 158 career receptions.

Defensively, junior Jada Ross led the way with 20 tackles, while C.J. Hirschman (13), Josh Mitchell (10) and Okeba Rollinson (10) all had double-digits. Dennis Justiniani had three tackles-for-loss. The Buccaneers had seven tackles-for-loss, giving up just one to V.M.I. and Marcus Brown on a corner blitz late in the game.

Charleston Southern blocked two kicks, with Phil Jordan blocking the extra point attempt on V.M.I.'s first touchdown, and then Chase Chambers blocked a punt early in the third quarter. Sophomore Alexius Ferguson picked up the blocked punt and ran it in from 15 yards out for a touchdown.

After taking a 7-6 lead with 1:00 left in the first quarter on a 12-yard pass from Drafts to senior Drew Rucks, the Buccaneers never relinquished the lead.

Charleston Southern is halfway through their four-game home stand and will host Georgetown University for Homecoming on Oct. 28. V.M.I. continues Big South play, traveling to Gardner-Webb next week. Both games are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. kickoffs.