Sept. 29, 2007

Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. - The Samford football team suffered its first Ohio Valley Conference loss of the season in a 43-20 setback at Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at Roy Kidd Stadium.

With the loss, Samford drops to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in OVC play. Eastern Kentucky improves to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Samford committed five turnovers in the game to two for Eastern Kentucky. The Bulldogs totaled 414 yards of offense to 412 for the Colonels.

"We knew we couldn't turn the ball over and we had to be good in the kicking game to win," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. "It's disappointing, because we all came up here hoping to have a stellar game. But, our kids played hard and they left it all out there on the field."

For Samford, Chris Evans rushed 23 times for 92 yards, narrowly missing his third-straight 100-yard performance. Jefferson Adcock completed 20-of-39 passes for 164 yards, a touchdown and five interceptions.

EKU's Bobby Washington rushed 10 times for 94 yards and a touchdown. Allan Holland completed 11-of-16 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns.

Eastern Kentucky got on the board first. After EKU's Zach Denton picked off a Samford pass on the game's opening drive, Holland scored on a 15-yard run with 10:41 to play in the first quarter and Taylor Long added the PAT to give the Colonels a 7-0 lead.

Samford scored on the next drive when Adcock hit Michael Deen on a four-yard touchdown with 5:01 to go in the first quarter. Mark Prevost's PAT tied the score at 7-7. The touchdown was the first of Deen's Samford career.

EKU took the lead back with 8:57 to go in the second quarter when Mark Dunn scored on a four-yard run. Long's extra point gave the Colonels a 14-7 lead. Samford cut the lead to 14-10 when Prevost kicked a 25-yard field goal with 3:55 to go in the second quarter. EKU struck again just before halftime when Holland hit Kyle Barber on a 26-yard touchdown and Long added the PAT to make the score 21-10 with 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

EKU scored on the first drive of the second half when Washington ran 26 yards for a touchdown with 13:33 to go in the third quarter, and the PAT gave the Colonels a 28-10 lead. Prevost kicked his second field goal of the game, this one from 24-yards out with 8:26 to play in the third quarter to cut the EKU lead to 28-13.

EKU's Holland hit Garnett Phelps on a 64-yard touchdown with 7:23 to go in the third quarter. Long's PAT was no good and EKU held a 34-13 lead. EKU quarterback Josh Greco hit Washington on a 28-yard touchdown with 2:43 to go in the third quarter, and the PAT was again no good, to make the score 40-13.

Long kicked a 22-yard field goal with 7:07 to go in the game to push EKU's lead to 43-13. Samford backup quarterback Dante Williams hit Marcus Rice for a six-yard touchdown with five seconds to go and Prevost added the extra point to make the final score 43-20.

Samford will take the next week off from competition, but will return to action on Oct. 13, when the Bulldogs play at defending OVC champion Tennessee-Martin.