Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU football team continued a three-game road trip Saturday in Charleston, S.C., returning to Big South action with a 34-21 setback to Charleston Southern at Buccaneer Field.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Buccaneers grabbed the early lead, 7-0, thanks to a three-yard touchdown rush from JD Moore that was set up by a special teams miscue by the Colonials. Kaylon Walters recovered a muffed punt for Charleston Southern at the RMU nine-yard line, and on the first play Moore rushed for six yards before punching in it from three yards out for the opening score. It was the first of 20 unanswered points as the Buccaneers grabbed the decisive lead in the second quarter.
ON THE BOARD
The Colonials were able to trim their deficit to 20-7 at the half as quarterback
Zach Tanner engineered a four-play, 77-yard drive that was capped by a 44-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Demonte Martin. Tanner opened the drive with a 30-yard strike to running back
Alijah Jackson that moved the ball into CSU territory, and out of a timeout by the Colonials and on 3rd-and-7, Tanner put the Colonials on the board with his completion to Martin.
PICK SIX
RMU had the first drive of the second half but couldn't get anything going, and on the first drive of the third quarter for the hosts Charleston Southern moved to the 33-yard line of the Colonials after a four-yard rush from Moore. On the next play, however,
Cosey Scarebrook came up big, intercepting quarterback Deymon Fleming, Jr., and racing 81 yards to pay dirt to pull RMU to within 20-14. Tied for the second longest interception return for a score in program history, Scarebook joins former safety Mason Gray, who also posted an 81-yard pick six in a 41-21 victory over Duquesne (11/19/19) at Joe Walton Stadium.
POSITIONING
Charleston Southern (2-7 / 2-2 Big South) was able to keep the Colonials at bay behind the wheels of Moore, who provided at 29-yard touchdown run, his second score of the contest, with 6:52 to go that gave the Buccaneers a 27-14 edge. Tony Bartalo added an 11-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter before RMU concluded the scoring when Tanner hit running back
Kimon O'Sullivan for a 21-yard touchdown reception. Tanner finished 16-for-31 passing for 242 yards and two scores in relief of
Anthony Chiccitt, who was 8-for-14 for 40 yards but was intercepted twice.
REVOLUTION NUMBER NINE
Linebacker
Bradley Magee became the ninth different RMU student-athlete to produce double-digit tackles for the Colonials in a game in 2022, posting a game-high 12 against the Buccaneers. Among his 12 stops were nine solo takedowns. Linebacker
Tony Brown added seven tackles, all of which were solo, while defensive end
Rico Watson returned to the lineup and notched six solo stops, including a sack.
UP NEXT
RMU concludes its three-game road swing Saturday, Nov. 12, with a 2:00 p.m. kickoff at Murray State.
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