Virginia Union University is about to make the first of what it hopes will be two trips this fall to Durham County Memorial Stadium in North Carolina.

The Panthers, now 3-1 following a 31-3 rout of Johnson C. Smith University last Saturday at Hovey Field, face CIAA foe Shaw University this Saturday in Durham, N.C.

That same stadium will be site of the CIAA Championship Game on Nov. 14.

To qualify for a second trip down I-95/I-85 to Durham, VUU will need continued superlative play from quarterback Shawheem Dowdy.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior was 17-of-25 through the air against Johnson C. Smith for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Dowdy also ran 11 times for another 51 yards during the 14th Annual Lucille Brown Community Bowl.

“Right now, you’d have to consider Shawheem for CIAA Player of the Year,” said VUU second-year Coach Mark James.

“He’s running the team like a seasoned quarterback should.”

Dowdy has taken a serpentine path to Lombardy Street.

He was born and spent his early years in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, before moving with his family to suburban Baltimore during his elementary school years.

Starring at New Town High School in Owings Mills, Md., Dowdy drew the attention of former NFL great Doug Williams, then the coach at Grambling State University in Louisiana.

Williams was Super Bowl MVP in 1987 with the Washington NFL team. He was the first African-American quarterback on a winning Super Bowl team. Williams coached at Grambling from 1998 until 2013, when he resigned two games into the season.

Dowdy signed with Grambling, but transferred after one red-shirt season to VUU, then coached by Michael Bailey.

A year ago, Dowdy alternated taking snaps with Kenneth Graham.

This season, he became the clear No. 1 when Graham took a medical red-shirt to rehabilitate from knee surgery.

“This is ‘Quarterback U,’ baby,” said Coach James. “I’ve always had a strong passing game … even back when I was coaching in high school” in Florida.

Through four games, Dowdy has hit 46 of 79 passes (58 percent) for 582 yards and six touchdowns, while also running 26 times for an added 126 yards. He sat out the final quarter of VUU’s loss at Gardner-Webb University with a minor injury.

“We wanted to make sure he was healthy for conference play. And right now, he’s 100 percent,” said Coach James.

VUU dominated Shaw University, accumulating 428 yards to 58 yards for the Golden Bulls under first-year Coach Kermit Blount, a Richmond native who went to Armstrong High.

Ole Izeqwire, one of several transfer players from ASA College in New York, picked up 92 yards rushing and receiving. And Rashaun Smith had two touchdowns — one rushing, the other receiving.

Freshman Hakeem Holland rushed for 85 yards on 18 tries and has 397 yards for the season.

Miami native Miles Pace, a transfer student from Central Florida University, sacked Shaw University’s quarterbacks three times and leads the CIAA in quarterback sacks with six.

Shaw University has struggled mightily this season. The Bears are 0-4 while being outscored 127-39.

VUU travels to Shaw and then Lincoln University in Pennsylvania on Oct. 10 before returning to Hovey Field for its homecoming on Oct. 17 against Chowan University, the Panthers’ first CIAA Northern Division foe of the campaign.