Sea Gulls sink No. 20 Christopher Newport
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Salisbury University football team won its fifth consecutive game, third of the year, with an impressive 35-21 win over No. 20 Christopher Newport University at POMOCO Stadium in front of a crowd of 4,829.

The Sea Gulls (3-0) ran for a season-high 400 yards and finished with 433 total yards of offense for their biggest output of the season.

"This is a big win for us," said Salisbury coach Sherman Wood after the game.

Sophomore Valdase Morris eclipsed the century mark as he ran for a team-high 104 yards on seven carries. Junior Ronnie Shockley and senior co-captain Jamar Garner added 88 yards and 86 yards each, respectively, on the ground.

The Sea Gulls struck first as they scored on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter to take an early 14-0 lead. Garner took an option pitch 22 yards for the first score and Morris capped off a nine play, 90-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

The Captains (1-2) answered in the second quarter with an 85-yard drive that ended with a Mike Thomas 1-yard plunge to cut the SU lead to seven, 14-7.

Garner found the end zone for a second time late in the first half as he scored from 25 yards out to give the maroon and gold a 21-7 lead.

The Sea Gulls threaten again with less then one minute to play in the half but a fumble deep in CNU's territory halted the drive and sent SU to the locker room with a 14-point advantage.

Christopher Newport took the first drive of the second half to the Salisbury 22-yard line but a Joe Galloway (two sacks) sack set up second down and long that resulted in a Jon Turner (eight tackles) interception. CNU appeared to cut the SU led to eight points on its next drive as backup quarterback Alex Brown found Jessie Bradshaw on a halfback option pass for a 37-yard score but a holding penalty negated the score and the Captains were forced to punt five plays later.

The Sea Gulls' next possession mirrored CNU's previous possession as an 81-yard Morris touchdown run was called back because of a holding call.

Salisbury finally scored in the second half as Morris raced 49 yards for the his second touchdown to give SU a 28-7 lead.

On the ensuing CNU possession the Sea Gulls' Justin Sykes blocked the Captains fourth down punt attempt which set up a Shelby Fisher (five carries, 55 yards) six-yard touchdown run to put the maroon and gold up 35-7.

Quarterback Ronnie Curley finished with 63 yards on 12 rushing attempts and Chris Loveland and Justin Acker each recorded a team-high 12 tackles. Sophomore Bobby Sheahin accounted for all of the team passing yards as he was a perfect 3-for-3 for 33 yards.

The Captains added two late scores, a 20-yard run and 21-yard pass, in the fourth quarter to pull within 14 points, 35-21.

The Sea Gulls improve to 3-0 all-time at POMOCO Stadium as they avenged last season's 23-17 overtime defeat at Sea Gull Stadium. SU is now 4-2 against CNU all-time.

Salisbury returns to action on Saturday, September 22, as they host Delaware Valley College at Sea Gull Stadium. The rematch of last season's ECAC South Atlantic Bowl Championship game will kick-off at 1 p.m. SU defeated DVC 15-9 last season.

"Those guys will comeback with a lot of fire from last year," said Wood. "We need to step it up on the defensive side of the ball and our special teams will need to have a good game."