CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Charleston Southern defense put on a show as they allowed North Greenville just 90 yards of total offense in a 34-0 victory, Saturday, in the Bucs' home opener.

"There's no question that we're happy to come away with a win," said Head Coach Jay Mills. "This job is very labor-intensive, and you work just as hard whether you come out on top or on bottom, so it's definitely very gratifying to finish on top."

CSU (1-3) got in the backfield a season-high 10 times, with Chris Patrick and Fred Godfrey leading the way, each with 2.5 tackles-for-loss. Patrick led the squad with nine total tackles, along with one sack and a forced fumble, while Godfrey finished with seven stops. The NGU offense never really posed a threat to ruin the first shut out for CSU since the 2008 season-finale against Coastal Carolina, as they failed to get inside the CSU 35 yardline.

Although the defense stole the headlines with a shut out, the offense tallied 516 yards with a balanced offense, the first time they've topped 500 yards since doing so against North Greenville on Sept. 29, 2007. A total of 12 people carried the ball for 267 yards on the ground, led by a 56-yard touchdown carry by Gerald Stevenson, who finished the day with 86 yards on the ground and another 114 on eight receptions. Antwan Ivey got the bulk of the carries with 15, amassing 75 yards and a touchdown. The 267 rushing yards mark the first time CSU has reached 200 yards since running for 272 against Savannah State on Oct. 6, 2007.

"Our ground attack has really been improving, and we felt like once we got on a more level playing field that those improvements would show up," said Mills. "I've always felt like this team had great potential to be balanced in both the running and passing games and that was evident today."

A.J. Toscano passed for 235 yards, a career best, and had one touchdown toss on a 62-yard connection to Kwame Krakue. The Bucs never punted, scoring on six of their 10 drives, the first time since Nov. 6, 2004 against Allen, that CSU has not had to kick it away.

Richard Harb passed 12 times for North Greenville, completing five of them for 20 yards, while a fake punt from Justin Jones accounted for the other 20 yards through the air for the Crusaders.

Despite a 16-play, 92-yard drive on their first possession of the game, the Buccaneer offense stalled inside the five, settling for a 21-yard field goal from Paglia, who was a perfect two-for-two on the day.

A punt block gave CSU the ball back with 2:08 left in the first, but a tipped pass at the goal line led to an interception by Josh Murph and gave it right back to NGU on their own two yardline. The defense came up big and held the Crusaders inside the five, leading to good field position for Toscano and the offensive unit. It took the Bucs just nine plays to go 48 yards, with Ivey punching it in from two-yards out to give CSU a 10-0 lead.

The Bucs would add one more touchdown before halftime with big plays. Toscano found Stevenson for 20 yards down the left sideline and then went to the opposite side, hooking up with Krakue for 62-yards.

Joel Walton earned the sack and forced fumble on the ensuing possession for NGU, but Toscano's second and final interception of the game came with 39-seconds left in the half as Tyran Melvin picked him off.

Neither side of the ball seemed to let up for CSU as they tacked on 17 points in the second half and gave up 37 yards of offense in the third quarter, and just seven yards in the final quarter.

Paglia notched his third field goal of the season with a 40-yard boot to cap a nine-play drive to open the third quarter. The defense did their job and got the ball back after just five NGU plays.

Toscano, Ivey and Stevenson proved they knew what to do with it as they used six plays to go 35 yards and one more to go the final 56 as Stevenson dashed 56 yards for the score.

The final touchdown of the game cam on the first drive of the final quarter. After taking over on downs, CSU went 62-yards in eight plays to set up a DeMarcus Moon three-yard touchdown run, making it 34-0.

After three road games to star the year, CSU will remain home next weekend as they face Savannah State for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.

Postgame Quotes