LEXINGTON, VA. - Charleston Southern's defense did not allow a touchdown for the first 44 minutes of the contest, but Virginia Military Institute returned a blocked punt and an interception for touchdowns, sparking the Keydets to a 50-7 Big South Conference victory at Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, VMI improves to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big South. The Bucs fall to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Musa Sarki returned a first quarter blocked punt 12 yards for an early lead and sophomore defensive end Justin Huggard returned an interception 70 yards for a third quarter score, spoiling what was CSU's best defensive effort of the season. VMI did not score an offensive touchdown until late in the third quarter when Sean Mizzer broke off a 57-yard run, putting the Keydets up 26-0 with 1:08 remaining. Four of VMI's scoring drives covered less than 32 yards as VMI capitalized on five CSU turnovers.

"I thought our defense played a tremendous football game with a great effort," said CSU head coach Jay Mills. "We're disappointed with the outcome because we expect to win every game, but I thought our players played with tremendous heart until the final whistle."

Despite early problems in the kicking game (CSU averaged just 15.5 yards per punt in the first half), the Buccaneers found themselves very much in the game at halftime, trailing 13-0. After a sluggish start offensively, CSU found a rhythm in the second quarter, gaining 97 of their 110 first half yards but coming up short on a scoring threat late in the second quarter. VMI managed 159 total yards in the first half as CSU's defense forced two Matt Sharpe field goals.

"The blocked punt was certainly a big play but, despite that, we were only down 13-0 at halftime and our kids felt they were right there in the game," said Mills. "We did some pretty good things offensively today, but the turnovers hurt us. What we're looking for is consistency and a chance to build upon the positive things that we do during the course of the game."

CSU carried the momentum into the third quarter, taking their first possession to the VMI 32-yard line. However, the drive quickly turned sour when Huggard intercepted a Drafts pass and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown, putting the Keydets up 20-0 with 8:58 remaining the third quarter. Things went downhill from there as VMI tacked on 24 points in the final quarter.

CSU scored their lone touchdown on Aaron Dunklin's 29-yard run with 5:00 remaining, making the score 36-7. VMI scored two more touchdowns in the waning minutes for the final margin.

CSU freshman quarterback Collin Drafts completed 16-of-35 passes for 164 yards and was intercepted twice. Dunklin finished with eight receptions for 77 yards while Harry Seabrook had his best outing of the season with four receptions for 61 yards.

Charleston Southern will travel to Tampa, Florida for a date with the Bulls of South Florida next Saturday night.