HAMPTON, Va. – The No. 17 Kennesaw State Owls ran all over the Hampton Pirates Saturday afternoon, as sophomore quarterback Xavier Shepherd ran for a career-high 179 yards and added three scores on the ground for the second straight week in a 34-15 victory at Armstrong Stadium.

The Owls, who did not attempt their second pass of the game until the final minute of the first half, finished the game with a season-high tying 339 yards on the ground, off of 58 attempts, for a 5.8 average per rush. They had entered the game ranked fifth in the nation with 275.8 yards per game.

Shepherd now stands second in the FCS in rushing scores with nine on the season. The signal-caller was effective through the air as well, as he finished 8-of-11 for 109 yards.

The Owls scored on their opening drive, running 7:11 off the clock on a 12-play, 51-yard drive that resulted in a 35-yard field goal attempt for an early 3-0 lead. After forcing a three-and-0 on Hampton's first possession of the game, the Owls started the next drive on their own 23-yard line.

That's when a downpour hit the game, and would be a factor in three fumbles over the rest of the opening quarter, including at the end of an 39-yard rush by Shepherd up the middle from just past midfield. He was hit right at the 15-yard line though and the Pirates came up with the ball. After another three-and-out, the Owls again marched back down to the red zone and had a second and goal at the three-yard line before fumbling the ball out of the back of the end zone, giving a touchback to Hampton. KSU though came up with its own forced fumble on the very next play, thanks to Welton Spottsville that was recovered by Kelcy Allen at the 25-yard line. The Owls took five plays to get in the end zone for the first time, scoring on Shepherd's three-yard TD run for a 10-0 edge with 13:47 to play.

KSU added to its lead with 3:32 to play in the first half when Iaan Cousin took the option pitch from Shepherd and ran almost untouched down the right sideline for a 36-yard score on fourth and one. That put the Owls ahead 17-0.

Hampton broke its scoring drought in the final minutes of the half thanks to a 41-yard touchdown pass over the Owls' defensive coverage to the back of the end zone. Hampton's ensuring two-point try was no good, while KSU went 61 yards in the final 68 seconds of the half before Nathan Robertson's 32-yard field goal made the score 20-6 at the break.

Hampton scored off a short field goal on the first possession of the second half to close within 20-9. The Owls put the game away with two more Shepherd touchdowns, a five-yard near the end of the third and a three-yard early in the fourth for a 34-9 edge with just under 13 minutes to play.

While Shepherd gained most of the notable stats on the offensive side, it was a team defensive effort for the Owls. Spottsville finished with a team-high seven tackles in addition to his forced fumble, while Evan Thompson was next with six including five solo tackles. Hampton was held to 276 total yards in the game, and was just 3-of-10 on third down conversions. KSU meanwhile converted 8-of-12 on third down, and was perfect on its two fourth down tries.
 
The Owls are back in action next week as they return home for a homecoming contest against North Carolina A&T on Saturday, Oct. 16. The game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. 

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