For 13 straight games, reigning HBCU champ South Carolina State found a way to win.
On Saturday, that streak came to a heartbreaking end.
The Bulldogs fell 34-31 to The Citadel on a last-second 31-yard field goal, suffering their first loss of the season after building one of the hottest streaks in HBCU football.
For head coach Chennis Berry, however, the loss is not the end of the road. It is a lesson.
“Didn’t get it done. Didn’t accomplish the mission,” Berry said after the game. “The mission is to go 1-0.”
South Carolina State trailed by 14 points in the second half but refused to fold. The Bulldogs scored three touchdowns after halftime, including a 21-yard touchdown pass from Keely Watson to Mason Pickett-Hicks and a six-yard touchdown run by Josh Shaw that tied the game at 31 with 8:16 remaining.
But The Citadel got the final word.
After South Carolina State’s final drive ended with a punt, The Citadel marched 85 yards in just over two minutes. Gavin Garcia ripped off a 44-yard run, and Nick Billoups connected with Michael Lorino for 34 yards to put the Bulldogs in position for Evan Kiely’s game-winning field goal.
The HBCU Test: Learning How to Lose
South Carolina State actually moved the football consistently. The Bulldogs finished with 346 total yards, 23 first downs and 255 passing yards. Watson completed 20 of 31 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns, while Pickett-Hicks led the rushing attack with 90 yards and a touchdown.
But the problem was stopping The Citadel.
The Bulldogs allowed 244 rushing yards, including 167 from Garcia. The Citadel averaged 6.3 yards per carry and produced 448 total yards.
That defensive struggle became especially costly late.
Berry pointed back to one word that has been a major emphasis for his team: discipline.
“You got to be gap sound. And then you gotta make tackles,” Berry said.
South Carolina State did have some positives. The Bulldogs went 2-for-2 on fourth down and finished with just four penalties for 31 yards. But against a team that consistently found explosive plays, the margin for error disappeared.
Everything Is Still in Front of the Bulldogs
Despite the loss, Berry made one thing clear: South Carolina State’s goals have not disappeared.
“Everything we want is still in front of us,” Berry said. “Every goal, every aspiration we want is still in front of us.”
That is the biggest takeaway from this loss.
The Bulldogs are no longer undefeated, but they are not broken.
Berry knows his team now has to learn how to respond after spending so much time on the winning side.
“We got to understand how to accept it when we lose as well,” Berry said.
The Bulldogs’ next opportunity comes against Charleston Southern. Now, the challenge is not protecting an undefeated record. It is showing that one painful loss will not derail everything South Carolina State has built.
“You gonna go through storms,” Berry said. “There’s good things, there’s bad days.”
South Carolina State just walked through its first storm of the season.
Now comes the most important part: seeing how the Bulldogs respond.