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NEWPORT NEWS, Va.- Led by a record-setting performance from senior quarterback Marcus Morrast, the Captains of Christopher Newport re-gained control of the USA South Athletic Conference Saturday night. CNU's 45-31 Homecoming victory over Greensboro College at POMOCO Stadium, coupled with LaGrange's 24-17 upset win earlier in the day at Huntingdon, puts the Captains alone at the top of the league standings with a 5-1 conference mark.

Morrast, from Stafford, threw for a new single game record of 340 yards and completed 19 of 24 passes including four touchdowns. Morrast's effort eclipsed the previous record of 331 yards passing by Todd Faison in 2007, also against Greensboro.

Three of Morrast's scoring throws went to fellow senior Rudy Rudolph, who caught nine passes for 235 yards. The Chesapeake product is CNU's all-time leader in receiving yards, catches and touchdown receptions. and now has 28 career touchdowns, third highest in program history. He now has exactly 2,900 career receiving yards.

"They've both had amazing careers for us and they got it done again tonight," Head Coach Matt Kelchner said following the victory. "We stressed all week how important it was to not overlook Greensboro and I thought we did a pretty good job. Once we were up it got pretty sloppy in the fourth quarter, but by then the game was well in hand."

The Captains fell behind early, 7-0, after the Pride scored on its first possession of the night. CNU bounced back and took a 14-7 lead after the first quarter. The Captains built a 31-14 edge at halftime, and then went up 45-17 following three quarters of play. Two fourth quarter touchdowns from the Pride provided the final two-touchdown verdict.

CNU registered 519 yards of total offense and went over the 40-point mark for the second time this season. Christopher Newport is now averaging 34.9 points per game in 2014.

Rudolph's scores came on passes of 52, 57 and 27 yards from Morrast, who also threw a 32-yard scoring strike to sophomore Taylor Loudon. Sophomore running back Daquan Davis reached the endzone on runs of four and three yards, giving him four rushing touchdowns in the last two weeks. Davis finished the night with 66 yards on 17 carries.

Rudolph's second score of the night, the 57-yard reception from Morrast, was the 500th touchdown in CNU football history. The Captains are now 95-50 in 145 total games over 14 seasons.

Senior kicker Mason Studer booted a 32-yard field goal, his 26th career field goal. Studer is now five shy of Jay Graham's all-time mark of 31 career field goals.

Christopher Newport, now 5-3 overall and 5-1 in the USA South, has two regular-season games remaining and the Captains now control their own destiny. Wins over LaGrange at POMOCO Stadium next Saturday night and at Maryville on November 8th would secure CNU's 10th conference title in 14 seasons of football action in the USA South, and would also propel Matt Kelchner's squad to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time.

Greensboro falls to 1-6 overall and 1-4 in conference play. The Pride has never beaten the Captains, who now lead the all-time series, 14-0. 

"We will enjoy this tonight, and start preparing for LaGrange in the morning," Kelchner continued. "They beat Huntingdon today in Montgomery, so they are going to be riding high coming in here next week. We've got a lot of work to do."

A Homecoming crowd of 4,708 watched the Captains win for the second straight week, a crowd that included over 100 former CNU football players who returned to support their former squad.

"We had about 111 come back for this one," Kelchner said. "It's always good to catch up with those young men who worked so hard as student-athletes here. They all deserve a lot of credit for what they gave to this program."

CNU will host LaGrange next Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at POMOCO Stadium. It will be the regular-season home finale and Senior Night for the Captains.