Box Score
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Running the football and playing stout defense was Charleston Southern's bread and butter during its 2015 run to the Big South Conference title. The Bucs provided both in bunches to overwhelm Monmouth, 35-7, in their 2016 league opener on Saturday at Kessler Field.
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CSU (2-2, 1-0 Big South) rushed for 322 yards and scored touchdowns on its first four second half possessions to hand Monmouth (2-2, 0-1 Big South) a convincing defeat for the third straight year. The Blue Swarm defense thwarted the Hawks' spread attack, limiting them to less than two yards per rush while piling up nine tackles for loss.
After an open week and an eventful start to the year, CSU head coach Jamey Chadwell was happy to see his team overcome miscues and finish strong in an early conference opener.
"We knew this was a big one coming in and it's always good to get a conference win on the road," Chadwell said. "It wasn't as pretty as you would like at times but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss. Our defense did a good job playing against it field position wise in the first half and the offense did what they needed to do in the second to make some plays and really just do a better job of executing and finishing drives."
A pair of red zone turnovers kept CSU from blowing the game open in the first half but Mike Holloway gave the Bucs the jolt they needed out of the halftime locker room. Holloway sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown off an option pitch to give CSU a 14-0 advantage 16 seconds into the second half. He rushed for 151 yards on 11 attempts and is now averaging over 14 yards per carry through three games. Holloway added a 63-yard touchdown reception to finish off the Bucs' second half onslaught.
"He's an electric football player and when we can get him out in space and do some stuff to create, he can make some nice things happen," Chadwell said. "It's big for our young quarterbacks, who had to grow up some today and will have to keep maturing, to be able to hand it to a guy like him."
Monmouth pieced together an 11-play, 77-yard touchdown drive to get on the scoreboard following Holloway's second half keynote address. Cody Williams bought time and found Reggie White, Jr., the Big South's leading receiver, for a 31-yard score on a 4th-and-14 play. Williams finished with 172 yards passing on 15 completions but was constantly under duress.
Darius Hammond immediately swung the field after the Hawks' touchdown, galloping 58 yards on the ensuing kickoff. He later scored from seven yards out to reinstate a two-touchdown lead that quickly grew to three thanks to Ben Robinson's 12-yard trip into the end zone. Shane Bucenell led both of those drives in his first career start at quarterback. He finished with 98 yards passing, a touchdown and an interception while adding 73 rushing yards.
Robert Mitchell earned reps as well and gave CSU the 7-0 edge midway through the second quarter thanks to a 20-yard connection with redshirt freshman wideout Kameron Brown. The score, which came on a pretty touch pass to the back left corner of the end zone, was set up by a 29-yard Holloway run. Mitchell hit on three of his four pass attempts for 36 yards.
Graduate senior Nikolay Timoshchuk made his third straight start at inside linebacker and tallied a season-high eight tackles to pace the Bucs' defense. Bobby Ruff was active early and recorded six stops and a pass breakup. Solomon Brown and Anthony Ellis, meanwhile, made sure Williams and Monmouth's passing game could never get fully comfortable. They combined on a third quarter sack to highlight a performance that produced two sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss.
Monmouth safety Mike Basile, the Big South's leading tackler in 2015, notched a game-high ten tackles.
CSU caps a stretch of four of five on the road to start the season, next week at Coastal Carolina. Kickoff at Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C., is scheduled for 6 p.m.
"It's not in the conference obviously, but it's a big rivalry game," Chadwell said. "They're a good football team and will have really good athletes so that'll be a huge challenge for us. We'll see how far we can come following this win because they'll do some things on both sides that will put us to the test and stress us."
