Oct. 8, 2011

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Samford football team built a 16-point first-half lead and held on for a 26-21 Southern Conference road win at Furman Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium.

With the win, Samford improves to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in Southern Conference play. Furman drops to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in league play.

"Our team needed a win like this," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. "We've been harping on it since this season started that we had to finish. We're a young football team and they can draw on this and can know that they can win when it gets tough and that somebody will make a play if they'll keep hanging in there."

Offensively for Samford, Fabian Truss rushed 26 times for a career-high 136 yards. Dustin Taliaferro completed 22-of-35 passes for 234 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Kelsey Pope caught eight passes for 104 yards and a touchdown. Chris Cephus and Riley Hawkins also had touchdown catches for Samford.

Defensively for the Bulldogs, Alvin Hines II led the team with nine tackles and an interception. Corey White had six tackles and an interception. Omar Johnson contributed an interception in the fourth quarter to stop a late drive by the Paladins.

In addition to his rushing yards, Truss returned three kickoffs for 75 yards. Cameron Yaw made both of his field goal attempts, making kicks from 39 and 32 yards out. Greg Peranich punted six times for an average of 41.0 yards per punt, including a long kick of 48 yards.

For Furman, Chris Forcier completed 27-of-45 passes for 356 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Colin Anderson caught nine passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Maples had seven catches for 143 yards and a touchdown.

Samford struck first when Yaw kicked a 39-yard field goal to cap the Bulldogs' opening drive of the game. The kick gave Samford a 3-0 lead with 12:00 to go in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs added to their lead when Taliaferro hit Cephus on a six-yard touchdown with 2:23 to go in the second quarter. Yaw's extra point gave Samford a 10-0 lead.

Taliaferro threw his second touchdown pass of the first half, hitting Hawkins on a 21-yard touchdown with 56 seconds to go in the second quarter. Yaw's extra-point attempt was blocked to make the score 16-0.

Furman drove inside the Samford 20-yard line on its last drive of the first half. White, however, picked off a Forcier pass to end the half with Samford leading, 16-0.

Furman put its first points on the scoreboard when Forcier hit Anderson for a 14-yard touchdown with 11:31 to go in the third quarter. Ray Early added the extra point to make the score 16-7.

On Furman's next possession, Forcier hit Maples for a 66-yard touchdown with 7:43 left in the third quarter. Early's extra point cut the Samford lead to 16-14.

Yaw kicked his second field goal of the game, this one from 32-yards out, with 14:16 to go in the fourth quarter. The field goal pushed Samford's lead to 19-14.

Samford put its final points on the scoreboard when Taliaferro hit Pope for an eight-yard score with 8:21 left in the game. Yaw's extra point made the score 26-14.

Furman added one final touchdown with 6:09 to go in the game. Forcier hit Tersoo Uhaa for a 13-yard touchdown and Forcier added the extra point to cut Samford's lead to 26-21.

The Paladins drove to the Samford 40-yard line before Johnson picked off a Forcier pass at the 17-yard line to end the threat with 1:52 to go in the game. Furman got one final possession, and drove to the Samford 38-yard line, but the Bulldogs held on to secure the win.

The win ends Furman's seven-game win streak in the series. It was Samford's first win over Furman since 1969.

Samford will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 15, when the Bulldogs play host to Elon. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from Seibert Stadium.