CLEVELAND, Miss. – The Delta State University football team (9-3, No. 5 seed) rushed for a 344 yards, led by quarterback Breck Ruddick's 164-yard effort and Chris Robinson's 144-yard afternoon, and the Statesmen used 14 straight fourth-quarter points to secure a 45-35 victory over the Bowie State Bulldogs (9-2, No. 4 seed) at Bulldogs Stadium in Bowie, Maryland.
 
THE BASICS

• Score: Delta State 45, Bowie State 35
• Records: Statesmen (9-3, 5-3 GSC) | Bulldogs (9-2, 6-1 CIAA)
• Date: Saturday, Nov. 18 | 1 p.m. Kickoff
• Location: Bulldogs Stadium | Bowie, Maryland
• Attendance: 2,214
• Series: Delta State leads 1-0
• Get Social: Twitter - @DeltaStateFB | Facebook – DSUStatesmen | Instagram – DSUAthletics

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Delta State opened the scoring with a 28-yard field goal from Vince Sciorrotta at the 8:28 mark of the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead.
• Bowie State responded with a 10-play, 87-yard drive that quarterback Amir Hall capped with a two-yard touchdown pass to Lansana Sesay as the Bulldogs grabbed a 7-3 lead. 
• The Statesmen answered the call by rattling off 28 straight points on their next four drives as DSU took a 31-7 lead with 2:54 to go in the first half of play.
• Junior quarterback Breck Ruddick's first touchdown of the afternoon gave Delta State the lead back at 10-7 with 2:15 to play in the first quarter, and after the defense forced a three-and-out, senior Kam Myers hauled in one of only four completed passes by DSU in the game for a 15-yard touchdown that gave the Green-and-White a 17-7 lead after one quarter.
• The Statesmen continued to keep their foot on the gas pedal to open the second stanza, as a 41-yard touchdown scamper by Ruddick and a 32-yard touchdown rush from Chris Robinson put the Statesmen on top 31-7 with 2:54 left in the half. 
• The Bulldogs took the ensuing kickoff and covered 59 yards in 11 plays, and Amir Hall found Brandon Britton from 13 yards out to cut the lead down to 17, 31-14, where it would remain as the first half came to a close.
• The third quarter belonged to the homestanding Bulldogs, who put up 21 unanswered third quarter points to storm back and take a 35-31 lead as the two teams headed to the final stanza.  
• Bowie State got an Amir Hall rushing score from two-yards out at the 9:28 mark of the third quarter to pull within 10, 31-21, and forced a Statesmen fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up a Robert Chesson one-yard touchdown run just 24 seconds later to pull within three points at 31-28. 
• Just over four minutes later, Amir Hall led a 6-play, 71-yard drive that he punctuated himself on a 14-yard touchdown rush, his second of the game, and the Bulldogs carried the 35-31 lead into the final quarter of action. 
• Delta State leaned on Chris Robinson in the final stanza, and the senior back responded with a pair of 3-yard touchdown runs as the Statesmen outscored the Bulldogs 14-0 in the fourth to secure the win. 
• Robinson scored the go-ahead touchdown with 5:58 left in the fourth, and then helped ice the game away as the Statesmen drove 97 yards on just six plays to take a 45-35 lead that proved to be the final score.             

Offensive Notables:

• Delta State finished the game with 405 yards of total offense, with 344 coming on the ground, land were led by Ruddick who rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
• Robinson accounted for nearly half of Delta State's offensive output, as he tallied 31 carries, his second highest total of the season, en route to putting up 144 yards and three touchdowns. Robinson added two catches for 46 yards.
• Ruddick went 4-for-10 for 61 yards and a score, and Kam Meyers finished with his lone catch being the 15-yard touchdown. 
• The senior from Bude, Miss., has now amassed 2,199 on 431 carries with 36 rushing touchdowns on his career. His 1,123 yards for the year now ranks him fifth all-time on the single-season rushing list, passing Rico McDonald 1,1151 in 2001.
• Robinson has now rushed for 538 yards in the last three games and has amassed eight touchdowns in that same span.
• Amir Hall accounted for 66 rushing yards on 19 carries while adding two touchdowns, and was 34-of-60 through the air for 332 yards and two touchdowns.
• Gilbert Lunsford was Bowie State's leading receiver, hauling in 10 passes for 80 yards. Brandon Britton added six receptions for 60 yards and one touchdown from Hall.

 
Defensive Notables:

• The Bulldogs were held to their third lowest yardage total of the season, and tied their second lowest scoring output of the year.
• Saturday's game marked the 12^th consecutive contest that DSU held an opponent to under 450 yards of total offense and marked the first time an opponent has tallied 35 points against the Statesmen defense. 
• Senior linebacker Landry Tullo led the way with nine total tackles, including eight of the solo variety. Tullo had one sack and three tackles for loss.
• Dante Williams was the second leading tackler. The freshman linebacker from Bossier City, La., totaled eight tackles. Chandler Ector had four solo tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss, and Tramond Lofton, Keith Flanigan and Josh Bradford each added a sack as well.
• The Statesmen secondary had eight pass breakups, led by Devontae Wilson's three pass breakups. Johnquavious McBride had two breakups, and Brandon Tillman and Decory McGee each had one. 

Special Teams:

• Sam Barge punted six times for 234 yards, averaging 39 yards per punt including a long of 43 yards. the Bulldogs Lawrence Forbes punted eight times for 333 yards, averaging 41.6 yards per punt including a long of 48 yards. 
• Sciorrotta scored nine points to add to his mark as the second place scorer on the GSC's career scoring list with 332 points after connecting on all six of his extra point attempts.

  
Up Next:

• The Statesmen will travel to Livingston, Alabama to take on the West Alabama Tigers in the second round of the NCAA Division II Football Championship Playoff next Saturday, November 25, at Noon.