The Coastal Carolina football team played away from home for the first time this season Thursday night opening Sun Belt Conference play with a 41-24 win at Georgia State. The Chanticleers improved to 4-0 while the Panthers dropped to 0-4. And the quirkiness of his young series continued as the road team has won all six meetings.
The Chants jumped to a 14-0 first quarter lead and were never caught. Less than 20 seconds into the game, Grayson McCall connected with Jared Brown on a 50-yard touchdown pass. On the first play of their second possession. McCall dropped off a short pass to Brown and he took it 53-yards to paydirt.
After a Georgia State score, the Chants responded with a scoring drive of their own capped by McCall’s two-yard run for a 21-7 lead at the end of the quarter. The teams exchanged second quarter field goals for a 24-10 Coastal advantage. Late in the half, Kade Hensley connected for another field goal, and the Panthers responded with a touchdown drive for 27-17 Coastal lead at the half.
The Chanta applied the backbreaker early in the third quarter. After an interception, they took off on a season best 16-play, 84-yard drive that ate over nine minutes off the clock. Nate Hope II capped the drive with a two-yard run for a 34-17 lead.
The Panthers cut the lead to ten with a 77-yard pass interception return off of backup quarterback Jarrett Guest, who had replaced McCall after he went out with an ankle injury. But Coastal responded with another long scoring drive, and Guest ran in from five yards out for the final of 41-24.
McCall was 19-27 for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns, CJ Beasley rushed 25 times for 142 yards and Brown caught 5 passes for 129 yards. The Chants rolled up 540 yards of total offense despite not playing with their top three running backs.
Coastal returns home October 1st to face Georgia Southern.
Final Stats
