Late TD Gives Football 20-17 Win At The Citadel

Saturday, November 15

Charleston, SC

12 p.m. (CT)

Samford University

7-3 , 5-2

The Citadel

4-7 , 2-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Samford	0	7	0	13	20
The Citadel	0	0	7	10	17

Denzel Williams scored the game-winning touchdown Saturday at The Citadel.

11.15.14 | Football

Box Score

By: Joey Mullins

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Samford sophomore running back Denzel Williams scored on a two-yard run with just 17 seconds left to give the Bulldog football team a 20-17 Southern Conference win at The Citadel Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

"This was a great win," Samford assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bill D'Ottavio said. "Our kids did a great job in all three phases of the game. This was a hard-fought football game that went down to the last play and we came out on top, so it was a great victory on the road."

Williams' score capped a nine-play, 72-yard game-winning drive that took a minute and 35 seconds. In the drive, Samford faced a 4^th-and-10 from its own 43-yard line. Samford quarterback Michael Eubank hit Karel Hamilton for a 29-yard pass to The Citadel's 28-yard line. Eubank then connected with Robert Clark for a 26-yard gain to the two-yard line, setting up the game-winning run by Williams.

With the win, Samford improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in Southern Conference play. The Citadel drops to 4-7 overall and 2-4 in SoCon games.

In the win for Samford, Eubank completed 18-of-28 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. Hamilton caught five passes for 71 yards. Tony Philpot had four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown.

Williams rushed 19 times for 88 yards and a touchdown. Williams has now scored at least one rushing touchdown in all 10 of Samford's games so far this season. Krondis Larry also had a rushing touchdown for Samford.

Defensively for Samford, Justin Cooper had a career-high 17 tackles, including 15 solo stops. Omari Williams finished with a career-high 13 tackles, 11 solo. On special teams, punter Greg Peranich averaged 43.0 yards on five punts.

For The Citadel, quarterback Aaron Miller rushed 20 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Miller completed 5-of-12 passes for 60 yards. Tyler Renew rushed 23 times for 102 yards for The Citadel. Walker Smith led The Citadel's defense with 11 tackles, including eight solo stops.

The teams fought through a scoreless first quarter. Both teams missed field goals in the period, and both teams were stopped on 4^th-and-short plays.

Samford broke the scoreless tie with a touchdown late in the second quarter. Eubank hit Philpot for a 31-yard touchdown with 3:39 left before halftime to give Samford a 7-0 lead. The score capped a six-play, 78-yard drive that lasted two minutes and 21 seconds.

The Citadel tied the score late in the third quarter. Miller scored on a two-yard run to make the score 7-7 with 1:21 left in the third quarter. The scoring drive was 14 plays, 91 yards and it took five minutes and 46 seconds off of the third-quarter clock.

The Citadel took the lead when Eric Goins kicked a 30-yard field goal to make the score 10-7 with 12:39 left in the fourth quarter. The kick capped a five-play, 55-yard drive that lasted two minutes an eight seconds.

Samford took the lead back when Larry scored on a 14-yard run with 8:39 to play. The extra point, however, was missed, keeping Samford's lead at 13-10. The scoring drive was 10 plays, 75 yards and lasted four minutes.

The Citadel answered when Miller scored on a four-yard run with 1:57 left in the game to give the home team a 17-13 lead. Miller's second rushing touchdown of the game capped a 14-play, 70-yard drive that lasted six minutes and 35 seconds.

As a team, Samford finished with 360 yards of total offense, while The Citadel had 419 total yards. The Citadel kept the ball for 37:42, compared to 22:18 for Samford.

The win marks the fourth-straight victory for Samford. The Bulldogs have now posted four-straight winning seasons and three-straight seven-win seasons.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 22, when the Bulldogs play at Auburn. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff from Jordan-Hare Stadium, and it will be televised live on ESPNU.