CONWAY, S.C. – The former annual rivalry game between Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina was renewed on Saturday for the first time since 2016. The hosts came away with a 13-0 victory in a slug fest between the FCS and FBS programs.
Coastal Carolina had the lone points of the first half in the contest with them booting through a 21-yard field goal to cap off a 15 play, 57-yard drive at the start of the second quarter. The Buccaneers' defense picked off Chants' quarterback MJ Morris twice in the half with newcomers
Jayden Hancock and
Nick Sawyer getting them both times inside their own 10.
In the second half, the defense was able to get off the field again with an interception in the redzone with
Steve Zayachkowsky coming down with it for the first of his career. Following this, the Chants inserted Tad Hudson into the game at quarterback, and he engineered a 15-play, 83-yard touchdown drive for their first endzone trip of the day. They were also able to knock through a field goal from 29 yards out after another 15-play drive.
Zolten Osborne went 10-22 in the passing game for 55 yards.
Chris Rhone was the leading receiver with five catches for 32 yards.
Ke'Marion Baldwin led the team in rushing with 62 yards off eight carries.
Brandon Musch received the start again and has 12 rushes for 34 yards.
Avery Dixon led the team in tackling with seven on the day. Malik McKinizie,
David Portu and
Tylan Hollis each collected six in the game.
Mylan Bowen had a pair of TFLs in the game.
Gilbert Brown had a tremendous day in the punting game with nine punts for 366 yards total with an average of 40.7 yards per. He had four downed inside the 20 and two that traveled over 50 yards. He had a long of 82 for a new school record as well as OVC / Big South Football Association record in the first half.
The Buccaneers will return to action next weekend with them having their home opener also serve as their conference opener with them welcoming Lindenwood to town. The kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Buccaneer Field with the game to be available live on ESPN+.
