NEWPORT NEWS, VA - Christopher Newport's football team, ranked 20th in the country, lost a 35-21 decision to unbeaten Salisbury Saturday afternoon at POMOCO Stadium.

For CNU, its just the ninth home loss since the program began in 2001.

The Sea Gulls quickly struck first on Jamar Gardner's 22 yard run with 8:40 to play in the opening stanza. Brendan Kincaid's PAT put Salisbury on top, 7-0. The drive took just three plays to go 65 yards.

Salisbury doubled its lead to 14-0 with 2:54 remaining in the first on Valdase Morris' 1-yard plunge that capped a nine play, 90 yard drive.

The Captains finally got on the scoreboard with 8:39 left in the first half on Mike Thomas' 1-yard run. Jay Graham's PAT cut the lead in half to 14-7.

The Gulls added a late score on Jamar Garner's 25-yard scamper with 3:40 to go in the first half. Kincaid's kick gave Salisbury a 21-7 lead at the half.

In the second half, both teams went scoreless in the third quarter, and both teams also scored 14 points in the fourth stanza.

Morris added his second score on a 49-yard run while Shelby Fisher but Salisbury ahead 35-7 on a 6-yard score with 7:43 remaining in the game.

The final two CNU scores came with less than six minutes to play. Tunde Ogun took a hand-off and went 20 yards for a touchdown. The ensuing two-point conversion failed. The final Captains TD came with 54 seconds to go when Alex Brown hit Kazen Burke for a 21-yard touchdown strike. Brown scampered two yards to convert the two-point try for the final margin.

Salisbury racked up 433 yards of total offense, with 400 coming on the ground. Christopher Newport totaled 381 yards.

Morris rushed for 104 yards on seven carries and two scores. Ronnie Shockley added 88 yards on 13 attempts and Garner finished with 86 yards on seven rushes.

Ogun became the first CNU rusher to eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark in a game when he finished with 105 yards on 11 carries. Evan Taylor added 70 yards on 19 attempts.

Brown, who relieved Todd Faison, finished 9-of-18 for 98 yards. Faison finished 8-of-17 for 92 yards and one interception.

Salisbury improves to 3-0 on the year while Christopher Newport falls to 1-2. CNU has next week off and returns to action Sept. 29 when Shenandoah comes to town for the first USA South game of 2007 for the Captains.