Chanticleers beat Arkansas State in second home game of season

Coastal Carolina University played their second home football game this past Saturday against Arkansas State and won, 52-23, improving to a 3-0 and 1-0 conference.

This was CCU’s first win against the Red Wolves in the fourth matchup between the teams.

The team strived offensively, manufacturing 539 yards: 322 passing and 217 rushing. Senior running back, CJ Marable, led the team in rushing with 15 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown. Junior running back, Shermari Jones, and freshman running back, Braydon Bennett, both also rushed for one touchdown each.

Quarterback, Grayson McCall, once again topped the Chanticleer stat book with 322 passing yards along with 44 rushing and four touchdowns, throwing one interception.

McCall cited great coaching and established the run game as two of the reasons why the team has had early success.

“Our coaches have put us in a really good position to be successful, we have a good game plan every week,” said McCall. “Our offensive line has been doing really well to the point where we’ve been able to establish the run so we can open up some other stuff in the pass game.”

The quarterback also provided insight into how he thinks the team can improve.

“This past game, we had three turnovers but we still managed to put up 52 points,” he said before explaining that if they could limit the turnovers, they could continue to have a very efficient offense.

Defensively, the Chanticleers got the job done, as well. Senior defensive end, Tarron Jackson, had three tackles, including two sacks. The team allowed just 23 points the whole game. One of the touchdowns came with just five minutes remaining, signifying that CCU only allowed 17 points all the way up until there were only five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Chanticleers play Saturday, Oct. 10, at Louisiana-Lafayette University, who is currently the 23rd ranked team in the nation.