Football Cruises To 45-0 Win At Furman

Saturday, October 25

Greenville, SC

12:30 p.m. (CT)

Samford University

4-3 , 3-2

Furman (ESPN3)

2-6 , 1-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Samford	21	14	0	10	45
Furman	0	0	0	0	0

Karel Hamilton caught nine passes for a career-high 206 yards and a touchdown Saturday at Furman.

10.25.14 | Football

Box Score

By: Joey Mullins

VIDEO RECAP

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Samford football team jumped on top early and never looked back on its way to a 45-0 Southern Conference win at Furman Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium.

The win marks the first time Samford has shut out a Southern Conference team since joining the league in 2008. The margin of victory is also the largest for Samford in SoCon play.

"I'm just happy about getting the win," Samford assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bill D'Ottavio said. "It's all about getting the win on the road at Furman, a tough place to play and a tough team to play. This was a really good victory."

For Samford offensively, Karel Hamilton caught nine passes for a career-high 206 yards and a touchdown. Michael Eubank completed 22-of-33 passes for 314 yards and one touchdown. Eubank also caught one touchdown pass from wide receiver Malik Johns, who threw for two scores in the game. Denzel Williams rushed 19 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively for the Bulldogs, Jaquiski Tartt and Jamerson Blount had six tackles each. Blount and Justin Cooper had an interception each for Samford. On special teams, Deion Pierre blocked a punt, and Jay Galloway returned it for a 15-yard touchdown. Punter Greg Peranich punted four times for an average of 43.5 yards, placing two kicks inside the 20-yard line.

For Furman, P.J. Blazejowski completed 15-of-32 passes for 133 yards and two interceptions. Blazejowski also led Furman in rushing, with 12 carries for 51 yards. Andrej Suttles caught seven passes for 49 yards for the Paladins.

Samford jumped on top early in the first quarter. After the Samford defense stopped the Furman offense on the game's opening possession, Pierre blocked the Furman punt and Galloway scooped the ball up and ran 15 yards for his first collegiate touchdown, giving Samford a 7-0 lead with 13:31 left in the first quarter.

On Samford's first offensive play, Eubank hit Hamilton for a 62-yard touchdown. The score pushed Samford's lead to 14-0 with 12:20 to go in the opening period.

"It was a great way to get things going," Hamilton said of the touchdown play. "The coaches talked all week about winning one-on-one matchups, and on that play I was one-on-one and Mike gave me a good ball and I was able to finish it off."

Samford added one more score in the first quarter when Williams scored on a 10-yard run for a 21-0 Samford lead with 5:03 left in the first quarter. The score was set up when Blount intercepted a Furman pass, giving Samford the ball at the Paladins' 27-yard line.

In the second quarter, Johns hit Krondis Larry on a 35-yard flea-flicker to make the score 28-0 with 9:22 left before halftime. Johns later hit Eubank for a four-yard touchdown on a reverse-pass for a 35-0 Samford lead with 2:03 left in the second quarter.

Williams scored his second touchdown of the game on a six-yard run with 14:04 left in the fourth quarter to push Samford's lead to 42-0. Reece Everett later kicked a 28-yard field goal with 7:51 to go to make the final score 45-0.

As a team, Samford finished the game with 540 yards of total offense, compared to 252 total yards for Furman. The Bulldogs had 381 passing yards and 159 rushing yards. Samford had 27 first downs in the game, while allowing Furman just 13. Samford committed just two penalties in the game.

With the win, Samford improves to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in SoCon games. Furman drops to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Samford will next be in action on Saturday, Nov. 1, when the Bulldogs play host to Concordia for Samford's 2014 homecoming game. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from Seibert Stadium.