NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Salisbury University head football coach Sherman Wood stated earlier this week that he was looking for his Sea Gulls to put together two complete halves of "good" football, and to keep from falling behind early. The seventh-year SU coach got his message across to his 13^th-ranked Sea Gulls Saturday as senior quarterback Dustin Johnson rushed for a career-high 197 yards and SU went on the road to knock off 20^th-ranked Christopher Newport University, 44-24, at Pomoco Stadium.

The victory was big confidence boost to the Sea Gulls, who not only improved to 3-0 on the season, but finally put a win together without having to come from behind in 2005. Salisbury, which recorded its 29^th victory in its last 34 games, won again with offense. After scoring 48 and 35 points in its first two games, SU finished the contest with 444 total yards and 404 yards on the ground. The Gulls came into the contest ranked fourth nationally in yards gained on the ground, averaging 348.5 yards per game.

The Sea Gulls also got a bit of revenge on the Captains (1-2), who came from behind to knock the Sea Gulls out of the NCAA Division III playoffs a year ago, 35-24, in the opening round. That fact was very much on the minds of the Gulls coming into Saturday's game.

"There's an old saying that you forget the last game and look ahead," Wood said in the post-game press conference. "But we looked over game film from last year's game and we kept circling one area from that game - seven turnovers. We knew if we minimized the turnovers we'd be in good shape."

Salisbury controlled the line of scrimmage, controlled the time of possession (35:27 to 24:18), won the total offense battle (444-321) and, most importantly, won the turnover battle (4-0).

Johnson who continues to be dangerous when he touches the football, led all ground-gainers with 197 yards on 20 carries, to give him 460 yards rushing after three games. His previous high was 183 yards. It was Johnson's third consecutive 100-yard rushing performance of the season and 13^th of his career. SU is now 12-1 in games which Johnson has rushed for at least 100 yards. The only loss was to CNU last season.

Leroy Satchell added 107 yards on 16 carries, marking his second straight 100-yard performance of the year, giving him 377 yards rushing on the year.

If there was an area of weakness in the contest for Salisbury, it was special teams play. The Sea Gulls allowed a 90-yard kickoff return and had a punt blocked and returned 32 yards for a touchdown to allow the Captains to keep the score interesting in the fourth quarter.

And while the Salisbury offense kept the pressure on throughout, the Sea Gull defense played with a bend-but-don't-break mentality. The SU secondary recorded four interceptions, including a pair by Terrance Dorsey, while the Captains scored 24 points and 321 total yards.

After stopping Christopher Newport on the Captains' first offensive series, Salisbury sprinted out of the blocks, scoring on its first offensive series. Johnson, who finished the first half with 137 yards on nine carries, scampered in from 73 yards out. Brock Boland tacked on the extra point and Salisbury led 7-0 with 12:47 remaining in the opening quarter.

That set the stage for a huge offensive performance for the Sea Gulls in the first 30 minutes of play as the Gulls rushed for 244 yards, averaging 10.2 yards per rushing play in the first half.

CNU responded to the Gulls' touchdown by driving 60 yards in eight plays. The drive culminated with a 32-yard field goal by Jay Graham with 9:10 left in the first quarter, cutting SU's lead to 7-3.

Two touchdowns in a span of 59 seconds early in the second quarter enabled Salisbury to widen the scoring gap to 21-3. Jamar Garner hit paydirt on both drives. He culminated a six-play, 80-yard drive with a 40-yard touchdown run. He then scored just a short time later from four yards out to give Salisbury an 18-point lead.

The Captains used trickery to get back into the game when wide receiver Nathan Davis connected with Curfew Speight from 44-yard out to cut the SU lead to 21-10 with 10:08 left in the half.

But a late touchdown by Salisbury took the winds out of the sails of the Captains. Satchell hit paydirt from six yards out, completing a 10-play, 78-yard drive that consumed 4:40 of the second quarter. The drive also appeared to drain the CNU defense, which played more minutes on the field in humid conditions.

Johnson said the Sea Gulls' offense still isn't in top form.

"I think they were slamming pretty hard on Leroy (Satchell) in the first half," Johnson said. "But in the second half I think we had them running around a little bit. We did seem to slow down a little bit in the fourth quarter, so we still haven't put four full quarters of good football together. Offensively we don't feel we're anywhere close to where we need to be."

The Sea Gulls came out strong in the second half and began pulling away. Antwoine Jackson scored an 11-yard run to culminate a five-play, 68-yard drive to widen the gap to 34-10, and Jacquis McCray stepped in front of a Hudson Bryant pass and returned it 29-yard for a score to give SU a 41-10 lead as time ran out in the second half.

Bryant, who completed 22-of-50 passes for 283 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the playoff win a year ago, fared well again against the Gulls on Saturday, completing 19-of-33 passes for 159 yards. But he couldn't put the ball in the endzone through the air.

Christopher Newport made the score respectable in the second half with a kickoff return for a touchdown and also blocked a punt and ran it back for a score, but the game had long-since been decided.

Salisbury will return home next week to take on Montclair State University, which is coming off a 17-14 setback to Frostburg State Saturday.