HATCHER POSTGAME INTERVIEW

PHOTO GALLERY

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Samford football team opened the 2015 season and the Chris Hatcher era with a  45-16 win over the Central Arkansas Bears Thursday night at Seibert Stadium.
 
"I'm extremely excited for our team," Hatcher said. "We had a dominating performance tonight in all three phases of the game. Early on, we got down a little bit, but we fought through the adversity. It was a complete performance in all three phases."
 
Samford senior quarterback Michael Eubank completed 21-of-37 passes for a career-high 372 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Eubank completed touchdown throws of 66, 55, 35 and 16 yards in the contest.
 
"Mike played a great game," Hatcher said. "He led the team well. He did a great job before the game of getting the team fired up. He went out there and was very accurate, he threw the deep ball exceptionally well."
 
Freshman wide receiver Kelvin McKnight turned in an impressive performance in his collegiate debut. McKnight caught six passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. Karel Hamilton had seven catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Vaquan Small caught one pass for a 35-yard score.
 
Denzel Williams rushed 15 times for 91 yards and a touchdown, and he had one receiving touchdown as well. K'rondis Larry had seven rushes for 68 yards and a touchdown.
 
Defensively for Samford, linebacker Josh Killett led the way with 10 tackles, including two tackles for loss. Justin Cooper, Josh Kimberlin and Trey Wesley added eight tackles apiece for the Bulldogs.
 
For Central Arkansas, Taylor Reed completed 43-of-63 passes for 312 yards. Dominique Thomas rushed nine times for 69 yards and a touchdown for the Bears. Desmond Smith led UCA in receiving with 11 catches for 75 yards. Defensively, George Odum led the Bears with nine tackles, including two tackles for loss.
 
Central Arkansas struck first when Thomas scored on a 29-yard run. Jace Denker added the extra point to give the Bears a 7-0 lead with 5:48 to go in the first quarter.
 
Samford answered just two plays later when Eubank hit Hamilton for a 55-yard touchdown. Anthony Pistelli kicked the extra point to knot the score at 7-7 with 5:03 left in the opening quarter.
 
The Bulldogs took the lead early in the second quarter. Eubank hit Small for a 35-yard touchdown with 10:56 left before halftime. Pistelli's extra point gave Samford a 14-7 lead.
 
Samford added to its lead when Williams scored on a 49-yard run with 9:09 to go in the second quarter. Pistelli added the PAT to push the Bulldogs' lead to 21-7. Central Arkansas came back with a 26-yard field goal by Denker to cut the Samford lead to 21-10 with 6:24 left in the second quarter.
 
Eubank hit McKnight for a 66-yard touchdown with 1:18 left in the second quarter, and Pistelli's PAT stretched Samford's lead to 28-10. Central Arkansas' Matt Cummins nailed a 50-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to end the first half with Samford holding a 28-13 advantage.
 
The first points in the second half came with a 21-yard field goal by Pistelli to make the score 31-13 with 4:55 to go in the third quarter. With 13:33 to go in the fourth quarter UCA's Denker kicked a 34-yard field goal to cut the Samford lead to 31-16.
 
Samford's Larry added to the Bulldogs' lead with a 54-yard touchdown run with 12:41 left in the fourth quarter. Pistelli added the extra point to make the score 38-16. Samford stretched its lead to 45-16 when Eubank hit Williams for a 16-yard touchdown, and Pistelli added the PAT with 9:13 to go in the game.
 
As a team, Samford rolled up 536 yards of total offense, while Central Arkansas finished with 462 total yards.
 
Samford will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 12, when the Bulldogs host Florida A&M. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium.