Oct. 13, 2007

Box Score

MARTIN, Tenn. - The Samford football team dropped a 31-21 decision at Tennessee-Martin Saturday afternoon at UTM's Hardy M. Graham Stadium.

"Let's give Tennessee-Martin some credit, they played well," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. "We knew they had a chance to explode, and they did. I apologize to our fans, our families and our football team."

With the loss, Samford drops to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Tennessee-Martin improves to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play. The loss marked the first time Samford has lost at Tennessee-Martin.

Samford's Jeff Moore caught eight passes for 124 yards and a touchdown, while Jonathan Lowery had eight receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown. Jefferson Adcock completed 20-of-37 passes for 192 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Dante Williams completed 7-of-7 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown.

For UTM, Don Chapman rushed 24 times for 113 yards and a touchdown. Dexter Anoka completed 10-of-17 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Anoka also rushed for two touchdowns.

Samford trailed, 31-0, heading into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs put their first points on the scoreboard when Adcock hit Lowery for a six-yard touchdown with 4:06 to go in the game. Mark Prevost's PAT was no good to make the score 31-6.

Adrian Bradley scored on a one-yard run with 1:10 to go in the game. Williams hit Moore in the end zone for the two-point conversion to cut the UTM lead to 31-14. Williams hit Moore on a 25-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left, and Prevost hit the PAT to make the final score 31-21.

Tennessee-Martin jumped on top early when, after a mishandled punt by Samford gave the Skyhawks the ball at the Samford 21-yard line, Anoka scored on a quarterback sneak from the one-yard line with 11:26 to play in the first quarter. Tom Hansen added the extra point to give the Skyhawks a 7-0 lead. Anoka ran for his second touchdown of the game, an 11-yard run, with 1:37 to go in the first quarter, and Hansen's PAT made the score 14-0.

Hansen added a 35-yard field goal for the Skyhawks with 4:34 to play in the second quarter to push the Tennessee-Martin lead to 17-0. Anoka hit Jessie Burton on a 50-yard touchdown pass and Hansen's PAT gave the Skyhawks a 24-0 lead with 3:20 to go in the second quarter.

UTM scored again on the opening drive of the second half. Chapman scored on a 15-yard run with 12:34 to go in the third quarter. Hansen's PAT made the score 31-0.

Samford returns to action on Oct. 20 when the Bulldogs play host to Austin Peay for the Bulldogs' 2007 Homecoming game. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium.