PETERSBURG, Va.  - Shaw University broke open a 2-0 game with two touchdowns in the second half, downing Virginia State 16-6 in a game played at RIchards Stadium Saturday night. 

With the win, Shaw improves to 2-3 on the season, and evens their CIAA mark at 1-1.  Virginia State drops to 1-4, 0-2 in the conference. 

"They're a lot like us, they are still looking to gel," said Shaw head coach Robert Massey.  "We still haven't played an all-around good game yet.  We began to come together in the second half."

In the first half, both teams struggled offensively.  Shaw broke on top in the second quarter.  After a Shaw drive stalled at the VSU one-yard line, the Trojans took over on downs.  On their first play, Shaw's Oscar Petty tackled Lamont Britt in the end zone for a safety.

The Shaw offense could not find its footing in the first half, with both the running game and passing game stalling whenever they crossed into the Trojan half of the field.  Shaw receivers dropped five balls in the first half.

"Last week, the receivers made some outstanding catches," said Massey.  "This week they were a little overexcited and didn't pull in the balls.  We will work on that next week."

Shaw's first of two long drives of the game came early in the third quarter.  Backed up on their own ten, the Bears' offense stalled at midfield, but a roughing the kicker penalty kept the drive alive.  Marquise Grizzle then ran for three straight plays, totalling 31 yards for the Shaw touchdown and a 9-0 Shaw lead.

After the Bear defense forced Virginia State to punt, Shaw took over on their own 20 and began the second long drive of the game.  Quarterback James Stallons and Grizzle then combined for 76 of the 80 yards between them and the end zone, ending with a Grizzle one-yard run to give the Bears a 16-0 lead.

With 6:20 left in the game, Jarred Battle drove his Trojans down a short field, completing six of nine passes for the 59 yards needed to put VSU in the end zone.  The try for the two-point conversion fell short, setting the score at 16-6.

"Defensively, we had hoped to keep them out of the end zone, but we let them have that late score," said Massey.  "We haven't played Shaw University defense yet this season.  We don't try to outcoach anyone.  We just want to line up and stop them."

The Shaw defense held VSU to only 12 first downs and 213 yards of total offense.  In comparison, Shaw had 20 first downs and 353 yards.

One week after setting the Shaw single game passing mark with over 400 yards, Stallons went 19 for 40 for 208 yards.  Grizzle finished with 104 yards on 20 carries and scored both of Shaw's touchdowns.  This was his second straight game with over 100 yards on the ground.  Marcus Hickson was the top receiver with four catches for 67 yards.

Defensively,  Derrick Washington and Chris Ellerbe had five solo tackles apiece.  Petty finished the game with three solo tackles, two assists and the safety.

The star of the game for Shaw might well have been punter Vinny Pacifico who punted the ball six times, with an average punt of 43.8 yards.  He put the ball inside the 20 four times. 

For Virginia State, Battle was 19 for 32 for 137 yards and had the one touchdown.  Ja'von Smallwood was his top receiver with eight catches for 35 yards.  Lamont Britt led the Trojans on the ground with 61 yards on 15 carries.

Defensively, Bryan Willoughby had seven solo tackles and one assist while Virginior Loiseau had six solo tackles including one tackle for a loss.

The Bears return to action Saturday, October 6 when they host Fayetteville State in the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day.  Kickoff is 1:00 p.m. at Durham County Memorial Stadium.