LEXINGTON, Va.-Virginia Military Institute amassed 659 total yards of offense on its way to beating visiting Chowan University 69-20 here Saturday.

Some 517 of VMI’s yards came on the ground. Chowan squeaked out all 20 of its points in the second half and totaled 329 of total offense.

Chowan quarterback CJ Westler connected on 19-of-32 passes attempted for 289 yards and three touchdown strikes. He also gave up two interceptions and was sacked five times on the day. The Hawks scrambled for 40 yards as a team on the ground, led by freshman JJ Spates, who had eight carries and 30 yards. Spates showed his versatility by also catching three passes for 35 yards.

Eddie Coard led the receiver corps with 129 yards on nine catches with one touchdown strike. James Fox caught two of Westler’s touchdown passes and totaled four catches and 76 yards.

Defensively, Jomo Brown had a game-high 15 tackles while freshman Joshua Barrett had 10 tackles.

Chowan falls to 1-3 overall while VMI improves to 2-1 on the season. Chowan will host Virginia Union University on Saturday at 6 p.m.