CHARLESTON – Charleston Southern opened their 2025 conference schedule on Saturday afternoon at Buccaneer Field facing Lindenwood. The final score was 35-28 with the Lions mounting a furious comeback to claim the conference-opening victory.
Rushing touchdowns on each of the Buccaneers first three possessions gave them an early lead with each of them marking their first career Buccaneer touchdowns.
Brandon Musch scored the first one from two yards out on the team's opening possession to cap off an eight play, 53-yard drive. This was followed promptly by a six play, 73-yard drive with
Ke'Marion Baldwin getting it in from 39 yards out.
To begin the second quarter,
Hakeem Watters got his first career carry and punched it in, rushing around the tackle on the left side for a 52-yard score. Lindenwood was able to get a scoring drive near the end of the half for their first points of the day but saw four of their six drives end as three-and-outs facing the stingy Bucs defense.
In the second half, Lindenwood put scoring drives together in the third and fourth quarters to bring it level to 21 apiece. The tying drive used a short field with a Nate Glantz quarterback run from seven yards out to tie it. The Bucs reached the redzone on their ensuing drive but missed on a 28-yard attempt following the 66-yard drive. Glantz then had a 12-yard pass to Rico Bond to give them the lead at 28-21 following the made PAT.
The Bucs' Watters fumbled on the kickoff return, coughing the ball back up to the Lions which led to their third consecutive scoring drive, shooting them ahead 35-21. Charleston Southern scored for the first time in 44 minutes off a
Zolten Osborne pass to
Rashawn Cunningham with 26 seconds left. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Bucs, but a penalty on illegal touching gave the ball back to the Lions allowing them to kneel out the clock.
Osborne finished the day with 23 completions off 33 attempts and finished with a career-high 289 passing yards as well as a touchdown and an interception.
Ke'Marion Baldwin was the leading rusher with 81 yards off 25 carries. Watters added 61 on the ground in his CSU debut. The receivers benefited from Osborne's career day with five different receivers hauling in three or more passes. Cunningham had five receptions for 86 yards while Rhone had six for 77 yards and
Jamil Bishop had five for 54 yards.
Justin Waters led the team in tackles with seven on the day and added a forced fumble and sack to his day.
Malik McKinzie also dropped the Lions' QB for a sack on the day. In total, the Buccaneers collected seven tackles for loss.
Gilbert Brown had five punts for 199 yards for an average of 39.8 which included a touchback and one downed inside the five.
Charleston Southern will be back in action for the next two weekends to conclude their nonconference play. They travel to William & Mary this coming week before returning to Buccaneer Field to face South Carolina State on Saturday, September 27.
