Tusculum opened the football season on a strong note Saturday, making some big plays offensively and shaking off a rough start defensively to post a 24-12 victory over the University of Charleston at Pioneer Field.

Sophomore quarterback Bo Cordell threw three touchdown passes to three different receivers and led the Pioneers to nearly 400 yards of total offense.

Charleston broke off a long run on the first play and scored on its opening drive, but after that Tusculum's defense pretty much dominated the run of play to win the game.

"I think we played as good as we needed to play to win the ball game," said Pioneer coach Frankie DeBusk, now 8-0 in season openers at home. "We didn't play as good as we need to play throughout the rest of the year. We had some players make some plays. I was very proud of that. We had some young players and new faces get on the field. We won the football game. Coming into the game I had no idea what we were going to be like. We didn't know what they were going to be like. Coming out with a win is a great feeling."

Charleston didn't really have any trouble in beating Tusculum last season in West Virginia in the season-opener for both teams. It looked like it could be another long day for Tusculum on Saturday when the Pioneers were held to three-and-out on their first offensive series then the Golden Eagles ripped off a 55-yard run on their first play to set up an early touchdown.

But after that, the Pioneers settled into a good afternoon on both sides of the ball.

Cordell was 31-of-43 passing for 318 yards and three touchdowns -- an 18-yarder to Rashaad Carter, a 15-yarder to Deonte Gist and a 23-yarder to Michael Rodriguez.

"I've been waiting to play this game since we played them last year, and I think everyone else has, too." Cordell said. "Offensively, we had a couple drives where we were moving the ball. We felt like we could have done anything against them. We took what they gave us; 24 points obviously isn't enough, but it was enough for a victory so we are happy about that."

Carter's touchdown was a one-handed highlight reel grab in coverage in the first quarter that, along with Gareth Rowlands' extra point, put Tusculum out front. Carter finished the day with 11 catches for 166 yards.

Carter and Gist both had big catches and Chad Blakely had a couple of third down conversion rushes on Tusculum's next series to set up Gist's touchdown and give the Pioneers a 14-6 lead at halftime.

Rodriguez pulled in his touchdown in the corner of the end zone to cap a 95-yard scoring drive by the Pioneers in the third quarter.

Cordell worked well with the receivers all afternoon. There were a couple of passes where he overthrew his intended target and he did have a meaningless interception on a Hail Mary thrown up with no time left on the clock in the second quarter. Cordell actually threw another touchdown, a 28-yard strike to Calvin Britt, but it was called back on a penalty, setting up a 40-yard field goal by Rowlands.

"We are working real well together," Cordell said. "We worked hard during the off season, and I think it showed today. A lot of receivers got a lot of catches. I think for myself, I was a little too greedy at times. A couple of those deep balls I kind of forced. You won't be seeing that much starting now. I'm going to take what they give me. Our receivers keep getting open, and we're going to score touchdowns."

Charleston scored two touchdowns on the Pioneers, the first on a four-yard run by Lamonte Lattimore when the Eagles took advantage of Tusculum's slow start and the second on a seven-yard pass from Maurice Leak to Andre Higgins against the Pioneers' reserves with :09 left in the game.

"Compared to the last two years, I think our defense played phenomenal," DeBusk said. "(Defensive coordinator) Kevin Weston had our kids really schooled on what we needed to do. We knew where to line up. I'm proud of his efforts coaching that side of the ball. (Coaches) Steve McGill and Karl Scott both being over there helped out tremendously. Our players made plays. We got stunned there on the first play, but after that we stoned them. They didn't do anything the rest of the day until the last drive where I think we had seven true freshmen on the field."

The Pioneers' defense was led by newcomer Boomer Brown, who made 15 tackles in his Tusculum debut.

Tusculum limited Charleston to 156 yards of rushing with 55 of that coming on one play. The Eagles threw for 149 yards.

DeBusk said it was a good start, but there is still room for improvement.

"We turned a lot of guys loose," DeBusk said. "If they would have hit a couple of those wide open receivers, it would have really hurt us. What they do offensively sort of hurts you trying to line up and cover. That's one thing we have to work on. Getting on and off the field, communicating on the sidelines, that's something else we have to work on."

The Pioneers are on the road this week, traveling to Ohio to face Findlay.