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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The 14th-ranked Samford football team used a complete team effort to earn a 42-7 homecoming win over the ETSU Bucs Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium.
"We need to start with our defense, what another outstanding performance they put on today," Samford head coach
Chris Hatcher said. "Offensively, that group played about as efficiently as I've seen them play all season, especially in the first half."
In the win for Samford,
Devlin Hodges completed 20-of-32 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns.
Andrew Harris caught six passes for 70 yards and a touchdown, while Chris Shelling had three catches for 45 yards. Jai'Rus Creamer caught two passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Clarke Miller and Montrell Washington also caught touchdown passes for the Bulldogs.
The Samford defense was led by
Ahmad Gooden with eight tackles, including six solo stops.
Christian Stark had seven tackles and an interception he returned 28 yards for a touchdown.
Omari Williams also had an interception for the Bulldogs' defense. The Samford defense has now allowed only one touchdown in the last nine quarters of play.
"We still have a lot of room for improvement, but today was a really good day," Hatcher said. "Our guys were very focused and ready to play, and that is a great credit to the assistant coaches for doing a great job all week."
ETSU was led by Austin Herink, completing 14-of-26 passes for 139 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Drake Powell caught five passes for 72 yards. For the ETSU defense, Dylan Weigel had six tackles, including five solo stops.
Samford got on the scoreboard first when Hodges hit Washington for a five-yard touchdown, giving Samford a 7-0 lead with 3:43 left in the first quarter. Hodges later found Miller in the corner of the end zone for a five-yard score and a 14-0 Samford lead with 48 seconds to go in the opening period.
ETSU cut the Samford lead to 14-7 when Herink connected with Falon Lee for a one-yard touchdown pass with 12:05 to go in the second quarter. On Samford's first play on the ensuing drive, Hodges connected with Creamer for a 75-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-7 with 11:55 left in the second quarter.
With 6:37 to go in the second quarter, Hodges hit Harris for a 10-yard score to push the Bulldogs' lead to 28-7. On ETSU's next possession, Stark picked off an ETSU pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown to make the score 35-7 with 5:43 left before halftime.
The lone points in the second half came when Samford's Treyvon Paulk scored on a four-yard run with 2:19 left in the game to make the final score 42-7.
With the win, Samford improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in Southern Conference play. ETSU falls to 4-6 overall and 2-5 in league play.
Samford will wrap up its regular season by hosting Furman next Saturday, Nov, 18. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Seibert Stadium. To purchase tickets for the game, click here:
FURMAN GAME TICKETS.
