DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Despite a pair of Savannah State University players having a career day, the Tigers lost their first game of the 2023 season to Bethune-Cookman University 31-6 in a contest play on September 9 at Daytona Stadium.
 
The crowd of 6,938 saw a close defensive battle up until midway in the third quarter when the Wildcats ended the game with 24 unanswered points.
 
Cookman drove to the SSU 21 on their first possession but the drive stalled and it ended with Cade Hecther missing a 39-yard field goal attempt. Savannah State's offense could only make it to the Wildcats' 36 yard line in the opening quarter. Near the end of the first quarter, SSU defensive back Dreshawn Dawkins intercepted a ball thrown by Walter Simmons at the Tigers 40-yartd line but Savannah State could not capitalize on the turnover.
 
On their first drive of the second quarter, B-CU quarterback Luke Sprague completed a six yard pass to Corey Turner but Dawkins' caused Turner to fumble the ball and Dawkins recovered it on the Wildcats 46.
 
SSU took over and drove to the Cookman 20 only to have Kenneth Lockhart miss a 37-yard field goal attempt. Key plays on the drive were a couple of 11-yard runs by sophomore tailback Joseph Hampton.
 
On their final possession of  the first half, the Wildcats drove 80-yards in ten plays as Jouvensly Bazil ran for a 13-yard touchdown with 4:14 left in the second quarter.
 
Savannah State responded with a ten play, 61-yard drive that chewed up the final 4:05 of the opening half and ended with a Lockhart kicking a 26-yard field goal as time expired to send SSU into intermission trailing 7-3. During the possession, Jadon Adams had a 15-yard run and he also completed a 14-yard pass to tight end Julian Roberts that put the ball at the Cookman 18.
 
The Tigers (1-1) took their first possession of the third quarter and worked 4:42 off the clock for nine plays and 59 yards that ended with Lockhart booting a 37-yard field goal at the 10:10 mark to cut Cookman's lead to 7-6. Hampton had a 17-yard run up the middle during the drive and Adams completed a 20-yard pass to wideout DaShun Mitchell.
 
Bethune-Cookman answered with back-to-back touchdown drives that expanded their lead to 21-6 with 1:44 left in the third quarter.
 
Hecther kicked a 45-yard field goal for the Wildcats to open the scoring in the fourth quarter for a 24-6 cushion with nine minutes left in the contest. Savannah State returner Allie Brown fumbled the kickoff return and Cookman recovered at the Savannah State 34. That set up the final score of the afternoon, a 12-yard touchdown pass from Sprague to Dacarri Allen-Johnson with 6:41 left for a 31-6 lead.
 
Adams completed 15 of 29 passes for 184 yards, all career-highs, for the Tigers while Hampton ran the ball nine times for a career-high 53 yards. Mitchell had five receptions for 64 yards. Deon Bell and Tavare Brewton each was in on eight tackles to pace the defense. Bell also had 2.5 tackles for loss while Dawkins had seven tackles, a forced fumble and a interception and Ameer Phillips had a pair of sacks.
 
As a team, the Tigers had 273 yards of offense but had nine penalties for 95 yards and surrendered 387 yards of offense to Bethune-Cookman.
 
Sprague completed 23 of 29 passes for 223 and two touchdowns for the Wildcats. Bazil ran for 64 yards and two scores, Allen-Johnson caught two touchdown passes and Dearis Thomas had nine tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack for the defense. Cookman was penalized just three times for 20 yards.
 
With their non-conference games out of the way, Savannah State heads home to play their home and conference opener against Clark Atlanta University (0-2) on Sept. 16 at Theodore A. Wright Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.