NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University opened the 2026 football season with a 43-14 victory Saturday night over the Newport News Apprentice School. The win at TowneBank Stadium came in the inaugural Anchor Bowl pitting the two schools located just four miles apart.
Sophomore quarterback
Brandon Peña threw three touchdown passes, and junior receiver
Josh Powell scored twice, once on a pass reception and once on an 84-yard kickoff return to lead the CNU attack. Transfer
Alex Jreige had a memorable first game as a Captain, rushing for 81 yards on 13 attempts and catching three passes for 64 yards. Jreige, who came to CNU from the University of Albany, also scored on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter as the Captains pulled away.
"Alex really showed some good things with the ball in his hands," Head Coach
Paul Crowley said following the victory. "He's a versatile back who can run it and catch it too...he and
Jordin Lennon give us two very talented backs."
Peña, who made his first career start at the quarterback spot for the Captains completed 14 of 19 passes for 209 yards and did not throw an interception.
"I was pretty pleased with Brandon's effort overall, and thought he made some really good decisions," Crowley said of his sophomore quarterback. "He had some guys make big plays for him, but I thought he did a good job and was smart throwing the ball away when he needed to to stay away from turnovers."
The Christopher Newport scoring opened with a safety when the Builders were called for holding in the end zone just four minutes into the opening quarter. The 2-0 lead didn't last long, as Powell then brought back the ensuing kickoff 84 yards for the squad's first touchdown of the season to make it 8-0. Powell, ironically, scored the last touchdown of the 2025 season for CNU when he returned a kick 96 yards in the fourth quarter of last year's loss to Susquehanna in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.Â
Later in the opening quarter, Peña connected with Lennon on a 26-yard scoring play to build a 15-0 advantage. In the second quarter, Peña found
Ethan Barham in the back of the end zone on a five-yard toss to give the Captains a 22-7 lead at the intermission.
Powell reached the end zone for the second time of the night in the third quarter on a 19-yard throw from Peña, and the Captains put the game away in the final quarter on Jreige's five-yard scoring run, and a 43-yard scamper from sophomore
Melvin Lowe to complete the scoring.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Captains logged six sacks, including two from senior linebacker
Masi Bruning, who finished the night with five tackles and also forced a fumble. Senior
Noah Martin and sophomore
Zay Rembert each also posted five tackles for CNU.
The triumph for the Captains marked their sixth straight season-opening win, and came in their only night game of the season..Christopher Newport is ranked 18th in the country by both D3football.com and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The Builders, meanwhile, fell to 1-1 with the defeat.
Despite the individual performances, the game was plagued by a combined 21 penalties for 199 yards, and the Captains were flagged 12 times for 145 yards on the night.
"I thought it was a really good game to learn about and evaluate our team in a lot of different ways," Crowley continued. "Overall, it was an extremely unclean football game in a number of areas. Offensively, especially in the red zone, we had some struggles...and we fumbled the ball four times. The penalties with 12 in all, that's just unacceptable...and we weren't particularly good on third down. We have to drastically improve in those areas moving forward."
The match up, played in front of 3,847 fans, was just the second all-time meeting of the programs. Apprentice defeated the Captains in September of 2022 at TowneBank Stadium, 38-35, in the only other meeting.
Christopher Newport will travel to Danbury, Connecticut, next Saturday to take on Western Connecticut State. The game is set for a 1:00 p.m. kick off. Western Connecticut State won Saturday to open the season at William Paterson University, 27-17, so both squads will head into the first meeting ever of the schools with 1-0 records.
