HBRIDGEWATER, Va. - The Bridgewater College football program opened it's home schedule on Saturday by making history in an 80-0 shutout of Southern Virginia on Saturday.

The Eagles won the toss and made a statement with the first drive as a nine-yard completion from Jaicere Bateman to Freddie Watkins on a third down gave the offense life. back-to-back carries from Brendan Robinson moved the chains and a pair of completions by Bateman put BC in the red zone. Bateman found Watkins in the red zone and a Wyatt Jervis rush from five yards out on the next play put the Eagles on the board as the following kick from Jack Hendren made it 7-0 five minutes in.

SVU's first drive had promise as the Knights moved into BC territory, but it eventually staled out and a stand fro the Eagles defense on fourth down and one gave BC the ball back. The second play of the second series for BC saw Bateman and Watkins hookup again. Bateman found the graduate student for a 48-yard completion and followed it up as he found Cedric Drumgoole from nine yards out for his first passing touchdown of his career. 

Following the Hendern point-after BC led 14-0 and quickly forced a three-and-out from the Knights. Tate Leach took the punt return and made a man miss and broke off for a 28-yard return to give BC great field position. The Eagles capitalized two plays later as Bateman and Drumgoole connected again, this time from 16-yards out to make ot 21-0 following the Hendren PAT.

Southern Virginia's next series lasted a pair of plays as a botched hand off resulted in a fumble recovered by Demarco Flemming inside the Knights red zone. The Eagles wasted no time once again as the short field resulted in another Eagles' touchdown as Bateman found Jamel Johnson on a seven-yard completion for the score and a 28-0 lead. 

After a SVU three-and-out, the Eagles marched down the field with a little slower tempo and eventually stalled out at the SVU 14-yard line forcing the field-goal unit to march onto the gridiron. Hendren nailed the 31-yard field goal to make it 31-0 just over two minutes into the second quarter. The BC defensive front came up big on the next SVU series and forced a three-and-out again. Jaylen Wood came into the game at quarterback for the Eagles and delivered with a 27-yard scramble to flip the field and put BC into SVU territory. after a pair of rushes from Robinson, Wood found Drumgoole on the sideline for a toe-tapping catch and followed it up as Evan Welsh tapped his toes in front of the sideline in the endzone from 10 yards out for the score. The following Hendren PAT made it 38-0.

BC turned the ball over after forcing another stop on defense, but quickly recovered. The Eagles got the ball back with 2:58 to go in the half and worked down the field thanks to a pair of big passes from Bateman to Kyle Beck and Watkins. Jervis was able to punch the ball in from a yard out from the I-formation to make it 45-0 at the break.

The Knights defense forced its first punt of the day on Bridgewater's first drive of the second half, but a tackle for loss by Flemming for the BC defense stalled the SVU offense and gave the Eagles back possession. The second play of the ensuing drive was all that was needed as Robinson broke off for a 58-yard rushing touchdown to make it 52-0 after the Hendren kick. 

After a trade of punts, SVu got the ball back and moved into Bridgewater territory before the Eagles dark-side got in on the scoring. Devin Watson dropped back for the Knights and over threw his target and Aaron Moore came down with it for the Eagles. Moore took the interception the distance for the 64-yard score to make it 59-0 after the PAT from Hendren. Donald Brooks II wanted in on the action as the BC defense forced a third down and he picked off a pass from Watson. Brookss took his return the distance as well to make it back-to-back pick-sixes for the BC defense.

SVU was able to get a first down on its next series but a sack from Darryl Dawkins shut down the drive and forced a punt. BC opened the fourth quarter with a methodical drive 13-play, 56-yard drive capped off by a Bradyn Horacek three-yard touchdown carry. The point after from Augustin Miguel made it 73- with 8:30 to play. 

A sack by Jalen Cunningham and Zeph Wade opened the next Southern Virginia drive and put the Knights behind the chains. on third down and long the Eagles defense added another score as Trey trenary tipped a pass up front and Shalin Green caught it and mae his way to the endzone for the Eagles' third pick-six of the day. The Miguel kick made it 80-0 for BC. The Bridgewater defense picked off its fourth pass on the next Southern Virginia drive as Jordan Harper came up with the turnover the the Eagles and Eagles decided to run the clock out for the final 5:42 to seal the deal.

The Eagles saw action from all three available quarterbacks led by Bateman who accounted for 227 yards on 14-of-16 and three touchdowns. Robinson led the way on the ground with 130 yards and a touchdown. Jervis tallied a pair of scores on six carries for 26 yards while Wood was the Eglis' second-leading rusher with 59 yards on the ground.

BC's defense was anchored by an all-around team effort. Flemming led the Eagles with six tackles while Elijah Choy added five. The Eagles' defense was the story of the game as Peyton Allen's crew allowed just 119 yards of total offense and limited SVU to just 1-of-16 on third down. 

The victory marks the most points scored in a single game in program history and was just two points shy of tying the ODAC record of 82 scored by Hampden-Sydney and ranks third behind Ferrum's 81 in a win over Greensboro in 2018. The win also ranks among the ODAC and program record books as Hendren's nine PATs ties him for fourth most in ODAC history in a single game. BC's total 11 PATs ties the ODAC record and the squads 11 touchdowns ties the program record and ranks second in conference history. 

The Eagles are back in action on Saturday at Millsaps to wrap up the non-conference schedule.