Sept. 3, 2011

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Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The third-ranked Georgia Southern football team scored 24 second-half points to pull away for a 31-17 win at Samford Saturday night in the season-opener for both teams at Seibert Stadium.

The game was played in front of a crowd of 8,714 fans. Samford drops to 0-1 overall and 0-1 in Southern Conference play, while Georgia Southern improves to 1-0 overall and 1-0 in SoCon games.

"Overall we were beaten by a good football team," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. "They're an experienced team. They made a couple of plays in the kicking game that broke our back. We had some chances, but to win that game we had to play a nearly perfect game. But I thought they kept fighting and scratching and did a good job."

Samford senior quarterback Dustin Taliaferro completed 24-of-39 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Fabian Truss rushed 21 times for 74 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore receiver Kelsey Pope caught six passes for 71 yards, while junior Riley Hawkins had four catches for 50 yards. Freshman Kelvin Clay caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Taliaferro for his first career score. Overall, Clay had two catches for 40 yards.

Defensively for Samford Alvin Hines II, Durell Hill and Darion Sutton shared the team lead in tackles with seven each. Alex Davis, Jerry Mathis and Devyn Keith each had a fumble recovery for the Bulldogs. Sean Thompson had a forced fumble.

For Georgia Southern, Robert Brown rushed 20 times for 140 yards and a touchdown. Jerick McKinnon had 12 rushes for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Jaybo Shaw rushed 10 times for 30 yards, and he completed 7-of-14 passes for 95 yards.

The Eagles' defense was led by Deion Stanley and Derek Heyden with 10 tackles each. Heyden and Hudson Presume each had an interception for GSU.

The team's played through a scoreless first quarter. The only scoring opportunity in the first quarter came on a 37-yard field goal attempt that Cameron Yaw missed wide left with 5:47 to go in the period.

Georgia Southern scored on the opening drive of the second quarter. McKinnon scored on a two-yard run with 12:52 to go in the second quarter. The score capped a 16-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:55 off the clock. Adrian Mora added the extra point to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

Samford answered to tie the score late in the second quarter. Truss ran for a six-yard touchdown with 1:45 to go before halftime. Yaw added the extra point to tie the score at 7-7. The drive started when Thompson caused a fumble and Davis recovered the ball at the Samford 25-yard line. The Bulldogs' scoring drive took eight plays, 75 yard and used 2:45 of the second-quarter clock.

The teams headed to halftime knotted at 7-7.

Georgia Southern took the lead again on a six-yard touchdown run by Brown with 6:16 to go in the third quarter. Mora added the PAT to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead. The score capped a six-play, 57-yard drive that lasted 3:36.

Samford cut the GSU lead to 14-10 with 3:26 to go in the third quarter. Yaw connected on a 39-yard field goal to pull the Bulldogs to within four points. The Bulldogs' scoring drive lasted eight plays, 30 yards and took 2:41 off the clock.

On the ensuing kickoff, Georgia Southern's Laron Scott returned the kick 99 yards for an Eagle touchdown. Mora added the extra point to make the score 21-10.

GSU's Mora kicked a 41-yard field goal with 11:26 to go in the game to make the score 24-10. McKinnon later scored on an 18-yard run with 6:04 to go, and Mora added the PAT to push the lead to 31-10.

Samford added the game's final points when Taliaferro hit Clay for a 42-yard touchdown with 43 seconds to go. Yaw kicked the extra point to cut the GSU lead to 31-17. Samford then recovered an on-side kick, but the Bulldogs were unable to score again, as Samford fell by a final score of 31-17.

As a team, Samford totaled 338 yards of total offense on 74 plays, while GSU rolled up 358 yards on 63 plays.

Highlights from the game will be available within 48 hours on Samford's official website, www.samfordsports.com.

Samford will return to action next Saturday, Sept. 10, when the Bulldogs play host to Stillman. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium.