CONWAY, S.C. – Old Dominion Football forced a program-record six turnovers as the Monarchs earned a 21-8 road win at Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Brooks Stadium.
“It was a hard-fought game and the guys just kept plugging and playing,” ODU head coach Ricky Rahne said following the win. “Obviously, the defense played tremendous with six turnovers, and then on offense we didn’t play our best. We made some silly mistakes, but at the end there we had a six minute and change drive to end it and they called all three timeouts. I thought there was a lot of fight in the team out there.”
ODU starting quarterback Jaxon Potter was 17-for-30 on the day with 150 yards in the air and one passing touchdown. Quinn Henicle also saw the field for his first game back since Oct. 15 versus Georgia Southern. He completed all four of his passes for 45 yards and added a rushing touchdown on three attempts for 13 yards.
Leon Haughton Jr. hauled in his fourth touchdown catch of the season and had six receptions for 67 yards, while Josh Rodriguez also finished with six catches for 53 yards. On the ground, Devin Roche carried the ball 18 times for 46 yards.
On defense, Zion Frink had five tackles, four of them solo, with a tackle for loss and an interception. Jackson Forrest also tallied five tackles, including three solo, with a pass break up. Ja’Mez Drummer got to Coastal Carolina quarterback Deuce Bailey twice, adding three solo tackles, two of them for a loss, with an interception. Brandon Crutchfield secured an interception and made three solo tackles, and Tavares Murray Jr. had ODU’s other interception.
On Drummer’s performance, Rahne added, “I just told him how much I appreciate him and how unbelievable the kid is. He’s a great young man and I’ve been blessed to be able to coach him and know him.”
After punting on its first two drives of the game, the Monarchs (3-7, 2-5 Sun Belt) opened the scoring with a nine-play, 50-yard drive. Starting at midfield, Potter completed a six-yard pass to Roche and another nine-yard completion to Kendall Harris to move the ball to the Coastal Carolina 39-yard line. Potter found Haughton Jr. across the middle for a 20-yard strike that got the Monarchs down to the CCU 22, and then hooked up with Rodriguez for an 11-yard catch. A Chanticleer personal foul tacked on another three yards to the end of the play, and Henicle capped off the drive as he rolled to his right and got around the edge for a two-yard rushing touchdown. Andrew Nelms converted the PAT and ODU led, 7-0 with 4:29 left in the first quarter.
On the Chanticleers’ (3-6, 2-3) ensuing drive, Bailey fumbled on the first play and Mario Thompson scooped it up and returned it for a 42-yard score. Another successful PAT from Nelms pushed the ODU lead to 14-0 at the 4:28 mark.
Coastal Carolina broke through with a 10-play, 59-yard drive in the second quarter that was capped off by a Nico Cavanillas Alti 30-yard field goal to trim the Monarchs’ lead to 14-3.
With less than a minute to play before halftime, CCU got the ball on their own 15-yard line. Bailey could not move the ball with a couple of incomplete passes, and then fumbled when he tried to run to the left on third and 10. ODU’s Malachi Harris recovered the ball at the CCU 6-yard line, and Potter found Haughton Jr. in the back of the end zone for a 6-yard strike with 23 seconds left on the clock. Nelms again kicked it through the uprights as ODU went up, 21-3.
Coastal’s Colton Hinton caught a 44-yard pass from Bailey to put the Chants on the ODU 42-yard line, and another four-yard catch by Hinton pushed the ball to the ODU 30. The Monarchs took a timeout to try and freeze Cavanillas Alti, but the Coastal kicker nailed the 44-yard field goal attempt as ODU went into its locker room with a 21-6 halftime lead.
Starting on their own six-yard line with 8:28 to play in the third quarter, the Chants got some momentum going as Bailey completed an 18-yard pass to the right to Zach Courtney and a 14-yard pass down the middle to Hinton. A pass interference called on Mario Easterly moved the ball to the ODU 47, and Bailey then took a deep shot down the left sideline for a 37-yard gain to Krosse Johnson. The hosts were knocking on the door with the ball on the Monarchs’ eight-yard line, but Drummer stepped in front of a Bailey pass intended for Hinton at the one-yard line.
Coastal was in ODU territory early in the fourth quarter. Bailey aired out a deep ball on fourth and 10, again looking for Hinton, but Crutchfield tracked it down for ODU’s second pick of the game. The Monarch drive started at the three-yard line, and Maurki James was stopped in the backfield for a safety that trimmed ODU’s lead to 21-8. On CCU’s next drive, a false start moved the Chants back to their own 43 before Bailey was intercepted for the third time, this time by Tavares Murray Jr. CCU then brought in backup quarterback Tre Guerra on its next drive, but Frink picked him off for ODU’s fourth interception with 9:22 remaining.
ODU has a bye week coming up before the team heads to East Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, Nov. 21 for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference meeting with the UConn Huskies.
Notes: ODU led at the half for the first time since Week Three versus East Carolina … The Monarchs’ four interceptions were the most since the StaffDNA Cure Bowl versus South Florida on Dec. 17, 2025 … It was the first win for Potter as a starting quarterback since Sept. 6, 2025 when he was at Washington State … It was the first career multi-sack performance for Drummer … Thompson’s scoop and score marked ODU’s third defensive touchdown of the season.