WINCHESTER, Va. – Visiting Gallaudet University scored at least one time in all four quarters Saturday night to key a 31-20 non-league victory over Shenandoah University.
Shenandoah (0-1) was attempting to get a win for new head coach Scott Yoder in his first game since becoming the third head coach in program history in January.
Sprint Field at Shentel Stadium was nearly filled to capacity for Yoder's debut, and the offense wasted little time in hitting a big play as freshman quarterback Justin Neff connected with classmate Qlyl Middeljin for a 38-yard gain on the Hornets first play from scrimmage.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the drive stalled three plays later and SU was unable to convert a 4th and 3 from the Bison 31.
Gallaudet (1-0) answered quickly on the ensuing drive, taking just four plays to advance the 68 yards it needed to score the initial touchdown of the game.
GU made it 14-0 with 7:50 to play in the first as Todd Bonheyo, who scored the first TD, blasted over from the 1 to cap a seven-play, 61-yard drive.
Shenandoah got itself on the board at the 4:49 mark of the first on a Josh Wells 3-yard run.
Wells' carry finish off an eight-play, 77-yard drive that was highlighted by a 37-yard Neff completion to Sean Blackman from punt formation.
An unsportsmanlike penalty added another 12 yards to the play and it took just two more plays for Wells to score his first collegiate TD.
The two teams split 14 points in the second with SU again reaching into its bag of tricks on its scoring drive. This time, from field goal formation, holder Drew Ferguson found freshman tight end Miles Green all alone in the middle of the field for a 27-yard score.
Gallaudet scored at 10:07 of the third and 2:24 of the fourth to extend its advantage to 31-14 before Neff found Middeljin for a 16-yard TD strike with 34 seconds to play.
Neff finished his night 19 for 26 for 219 yards and the one score. He was sacked three times and did not have an interception.
The Bison used their triple option to roll up 454 yards in total offense, including 390 on the ground.
BJ Flores had 121 yards rushing while Ryan and Todd Bonheyo combined for 161.
Freshman Jason Hager had a game-high 12 stops with sophomore Michael Messick adding 11.
Shenandoah plays at former USA South rival Ferrum next Saturday in a 1:00 contest.
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