Virginia Union moved one step closer to clinching its fourth straight CIAA championship berth with a dominant 62-0 shutout win over Lincoln (PA).

The win marks the eighth straight for the Panthers since their season-opening loss to Lenoir-Rhyne, improving to 8-1 overall and 7-0 against the CIAA.

Virginia Union’s run game proved to be too much for Lincoln to handle, amassing a season-high 320 rushing yards on 6.5 yards per attempt.

Leading the charge was Ramon Brown, tallying 150 rushing yards on 22 attempts, including two touchdowns.

Quarterbacks RJ Rosales and Myles Derricott combined for four touchdown passes to four different receivers.

Meanwhile, the Panthers’ defense limited the Lions to just 112 yards of total offense, averaging 2.4 yards per play.

Currently the number one ranked defense in the CIAA, this is the third straight game VUU has held the opposing offense to under 200 total yards (also the fifth straight game it has allowed fewer than 10 points).

Besides a lost fumble on their second possession, it was a near-perfect performance for the Panthers, scoring on every offensive drive, including touchdowns on eight of 11 of them.

In the last three games, Virginia Union has scored on 77% of its offensive possessions, including 65% of them ending in touchdowns.

Virginia Union will now proceed into the final weekend of the regular season, anticipating an intense contest against in-state rival, Virginia State.

The Trojans have an uphill battle on Saturday afternoon against the defending CIAA champion, Johnson C. Smith.

Should Virginia State win against Johnson C. Smith, both VSU and VUU would clinch berths into the CIAA title game with their matchup in the final week serving as a preview.

However, a JCSU win creates an interesting scenario that could lead to a convoluted three-way tie pending the results of the final weekend of the regular season’s matchups.