Virginia Union University loves playing at home at friendly Hovey Field. But road trips aren’t bad, either.

Coach Alvin Parker’s Panthers routed Lincoln, 57-0, last week, much to the delight of a homecoming gathering of thousands.

Now comes a 286-mile trip to CIAA newcomer Bluefield State, W.Va. The Big Blue has lost seven straight games after an opening win over Livingstone.

Who’s afraid of the big, bad road? Not the Panthers.

VUU has won 13 straight games away from home over the past three seasons. The last road loss was at Hampton on Sept. 4, 2021.

In just its third home game of the season, the Panthers totally dominated the Lions on the scoreboard and statistically.

VUU had 481 yards total offense to just 168 for Lincoln. All-American tailback Jada Byers ran for 55 yards and four touchdowns on just 12 carries.

Byers added a fifth TD on a pass reception from Christian Reid. According to VUU, the record of six TDs in a game was set in 1927 by J.W. Cotton against St. Paul’s.

Panthers quarterback Reid passed for 176 yards and ran for another 65.

William Davis and Jabrill Norman led the defense with eight tackles each.

VUU’s Marvin Holmes, sometimes the loneliest man on the roster, was called on to punt only once.

Much busier was place kicker Brady Myers who hit six extra points, a field goal and boomed 10 kickoffs for an average of 54 yards, with two touchbacks.

The “Byers & Myers” duo is the top scoring combo in the CIAA. Byers has 78 points on the season; Myers 54.

Founded as an HBCU in 1895, Bluefield was a CIAA member from 1932 to 1955. More recently it has competed in the West

Virginia Division II conference and as an independent.

VUU will close its regular season Nov. 4 at home against Virginia State. It will determine the CIAA Northern Division championship.