BLUEFIELD, WV -- Shaw fell in a close, 35-33 loss Bluefield State on the road Saturday afternoon.
The Big Blues improved to 2-3 on the year and 1-1 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association play, while the Bears fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in conference matchups.
Alexander Marsh led Shaw's passing attack with 183 yards through the air, tossing two touchdowns and one interception.
Trey Thorpe totaled 54 yards to lead the Bears' ground attack and added one touchdown in the game. Christian Rutledge also tacked on 47 yards on the ground, picking up 7.8 yards per carry.
Reggie King Jr reeled in two catches for 72 yards and one score.
Thomas Thompson Jr paced the Shaw defensive effort, collecting 0.5 TFL, one interception, and one recovered fumble. Isman Alston added five tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one recovered fumble and keyshawn Richardson had five tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one sack in the loss.
The Bears won the turnover battle in Saturday's game, forcing three turnovers while coughing the ball up one time, with Shaw turning those takeaways into 13 points.
Shaw's defense held up fairly well against the run, limiting Bluefield State to 132 yards on the ground.
Shaw took care of business in the red zone, scoring four times on five trips inside Bluefield State's 20-yard line, with all of those scores being touchdowns.
How It Happened
After Bluefield State opened the scoring to go ahead 6-0, Shaw fired back to grab a 7-6 lead with 9:40 left in the first quarter.Bluefield State then scored to take a 22-7 lead before the Bears put a touchdown on the board to narrow the gap and make it a 22-13 game.
Shaw cut into Bluefield State's lead with a touchdown with :41 left in the second quarter to make it 22-19.The Bears then kept the momentum going with a two-yard touchdown run from to grab a 26-22 lead.
Bluefield State then fought back to take a 35-26 lead which a Shaw touchdown cut into with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter to make it a 35-33 game. Neither team scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Bluefield State outgained Shaw 366-312 in the contest.
» Shaw won the turnover battle 3-1 after intercepting one pass and recovering two fumbles.
» Shaw had their highest scoring quarter in the second period, when they put up 12 points.
» Shaw converted 2 of 12 third downs while Bluefield State was successful on 3 of 8.
» Shaw went 3-for-5 on fourth down, converting on 60 percent of attempts.
» Shaw forced two red zone turnovers in the contest.
» Shaw won the time of possession battle 34:35 to 25:25.
» Marsh completed 65% of his passes on the day, going 13-for-20 while averaging 9.2 yards per attempt.
» Brice Koontz led the Big Blues passing attack, completing 16 of his 26 attempts for 234 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
» Tyler Wilson led the Bluefield State rushing attack with 119 yards.
Up Next
Shaw returns home for a three game home stand first hosting Winston -Salem State University Saturday, October 11. Kickoff is slated for 1 PM inside Durham County.
