DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.— Running back Anthony Jordan rushed for a game-high 121 yards on 22 carries to lead the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats to a 17-14 victory over South Carolina State Thursday (Oct. 8) at Municipal Stadium.
BC-U improves to 5-1 overall, 2-0 in the MEAC, while SC State falls to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in the league. The Bulldogs committed 18 costly penalties for 144 yards, while BC-U finished with six (6) for 68 yards on the night.
"We made too many mistakes and when you have the type of mistakes we made and the penalties it's hard to win," said SC State head coach Buddy Pough. "There are things we have to clean up, we experience technique errors and we got a lot of problems with our outside blocking."
Freshman quarterback
Caleb York threw for a game-high 15-of-26 for 175 yards and a touchdown. Senior back running back
Jalen Simmons led the rushing attack with 14 carries for 91-yards,while senior wide receiver
Taquan West finished with six (6) catches for 84-yards and a touchdown.
The Wildcats took the lead late in the third quarter on a two-yard toss from quarterback Quentin Williams to Ja-Quan Lumas to give BC-U a 10-7 advantage with a 1:05 remaining. Senior All-American punt returner
Antonio Hamilton dazzled the crowd with an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead at the 10:43 mark in the fourth quarter.
Williams's delivered once again on a 3-yard touchdown run to give BC-U the lead 17-14 with 5:07 remaining in game. The Wildcats defense stood strong shutting down the Bulldogs offense to secure the victory.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker
Dayshawn Taylor spearheaded the Bulldog defense with a game-high 14 tackles and two (2) tackles for loss. All-MEAC linebacker
Darius Leonard added 13 in the loss.
"We still have a lot of football left. Last year, we had a five-way tie among teams with two losses and we only have one conference loss," said Pough. "We got our work cut out for us but there's still plenty of football to be played."
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday (Oct. 17) at home against the visiting Bison of Howard University at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. SC State will be celebrating Youth/ROTC Day. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
For more information on South Carolina State athletics visit www.scsuathletics.com or call the Office of Athletic Media Relations at (803) 536-7060 or (803) 536-8227.
