CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern's Aaron Brown returned a third quarter fumble for a touchdown, and quarterback Kyle Copeland directed a pair of second half scoring drives to lead the Bucs past North Greenville, 41-14, on Thursday night at Buccaneer Field.

Sparked by a Darius Hammond 60-yard touchdown run 61 seconds into play, CSU (1-0) stormed out to a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter. North Greenville (0-1) closed to within 20-7 at halftime, though, and threatened to make it a one-score game when it moved the football to the CSU 13-yard line five minutes into the third quarter. An errant snap over the head of NGU quarterback Will Hunter then swung the game for good. The ball bounced a good 30 yards before Brown scooped it up near midfield and rumbled in for a 53-yard touchdown to give the Bucs a 20-point lead.

"All I saw was the ball and the end zone, and I wasn't stopping for anything once I saw that," said Brown, who finished with two of CSU's eight tackles for loss. "I think that play really sparked the momentum for us. They were in control a little bit and had made it a close game, so it felt like they were dictating to us. But after that, we were in complete control. It flipped at that point. We dominated after that."

Copeland came on at quarterback in relief of an injured Austin Brown, and orchestrated the option running game on touchdown drives of 70 and 79 yards. Freshman Kelan Fraise found the endzone from ten yards out on his first career carry to push the lead to 20, and Robinson recorded his second touchdown to account for the 41-14 final margin.

Robinson and Hammond each went over the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time in their careers. Robinson finished with 127 yards and two touchdowns, while Hammond posted 114 yards and the 60-yard dash that set the tone.

CSU head coach Jamey Chadwell was pleased with the way his team responded after North Greenville rallied in the third quarter.

"We really did just pound the ball," Chadwell said. "That was part of our plan tonight. We thought we had the advantage upfront. We ran a lot of just traditional run plays in the first half. We didn't even use the option really until the fourth quarter when we wanted to milk some clock, but we wanted to establish our run game and those guys played really well."

The Bucs scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the night to assume control right away. Robinson scampered into the endzone from 18 yards out, and Austin Brown hit a wide-open Nathan Prater for a five-yard touchdown to give CSU a 20-0 advantage with 9:53 left in the first half.

North Greenville scored just before halftime as Simeon Byrd raced in for a 26-yard touchdown, right after Hughes scrambled for nine yards to convert a fourth down.

Hughes, NGU' s record-setting signal caller, kept the Crusaders in the game, finishing with 176 yards passing and a touchdown while also rushing for 20 yards. He was under pressure for much of the night, however, as the Bucs got in the backfield consistently en route to recording four sacks.

CSU redshirt freshman outside linebacker Solomon Brown notched two of those sacks as part of an impressive collegiate debut. Sophomores Anthony Ellis and Bobby Ruff swarmed Hughes for sacks as well, while another underclassman, Zane Cruz, paced the Bucs with seven tackles.

"I thought it was a great setting tonight," Chadwell said following CSU's third straight season opening victory. "We had the fireworks and everyone was excited to get out and play a game on the new field. We had a good crowd and it's always exciting to play in front of your home fans. "

CSU hits the road next Saturday to take on Troy University, of the Sun Belt Conference. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.