BOX SCORE (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Samford football team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on its way to a 66-9 win over Shorter Thursday night at Seibert Stadium. The game was played in front of 5,252 fans. The student crowd of 1,435 is a school record for student attendance.

"It was a good start," Samford head coach Chris Hatcher said. "We played a team that, on paper, coming in, we should be able to beat. However, we had no idea what to expect because of all the newness surrounding their program. But I was really pleased that we came out and took care of business early."

Devlin Hodges led Samford, completing 25-of-36 passes for 330 yards and five touchdowns. His five touchdowns tie his career high, and are one short of the school record of six set by Jimbo Fisher in 1987. Samford played four quarterbacks in the game, with Liam Welch, Ty Hatcher and Jes Sutherland also seeing time in the contest. Hatcher tossed his first career touchdown in the win.

Kelvin McKnight caught six passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. Yassar El-Amin hauled in five passes for 70 yards. Chris Shelling had five catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Roland Adams led the running game with 11 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown.

The Samford defense produced three interceptions. Aaron Atkinson, Alec Happel and Christian Stark each had one interception in the contest. LaVar Gardner led the team in tackles with six, while Koi Freeman and Atkinson produced six tackles each.

For Shorter, Tyler Pullam completed 17-of-30 passes for 138 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Jerry Fleming led the Shorter defense with nine tackles, including four solo stops and one for loss.

Samford's first offensive drive was set up when Atkinson picked off a Shorter pass, giving Samford the ball at the Hawks' 41-yard line. Seven plays later, Hodges scored on an eight-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 11:27 left in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs struck again on their next drive when Adams scored on a five-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 8:03 to go in the opening period. Mitchell Fineran added to the Samford lead with a 32-yard field goal, making the score 17-0 with 2:07 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Hodges connected with McKnight for a 34-yard touchdown for a 24-0 lead with 14:53 to go in the second quarter. Hodges later hit Shelling for a seven-yard score to make the score 31-0 with 12:28 left in the second quarter. Hodges then later connected with McKnight for a 16-yard touchdown for a 38-0 lead with 7:50 left before halftime.

Samford added one more score before halftime. Hodges tossed a three-yard touchdown pass to Clarke Miller for a 45-0 lead with 1:08 left in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs added to their lead early in the fourth quarter. Hodges threw his fifth and final touchdown pass of the night, this one to Jai'Rus Creamer for six yards with 10:29 to go in the third quarter to make the score 52-0.

Shorter got on the scoreboard with 2:55 left in the third quarter when the ball was snapped over Welch's head and he fell on the ball in the end zone, resulting in a safety and making the score 52-2.

Samford freshman running back DeMarcus Ware scored his first collegiate touchdown, carrying the ball in from three-yards out with 13:53 left in the game. The score pushed Samford's lead to 59-2. Shorter's Pullam connected with Barnett Bailey for a four-yard touchdown with 9:02 left in the game to cut the lead to 59-9. Hatcher wrapped up the scoring, tossing his first career touchdown pass, a six-yard score to Titus Gardner for his first career TD reception, with 4:29 to play to make the final score 66-9.

With the win, Samford improves to 1-0 on the season. Shorter drops to 0-1 with the loss.

Samford will return to action next Saturday, Sept. 8, when the Bulldogs play at Florida State. The game is scheduled for a 6:20 p.m. (CT) kickoff from Tallahassee, Florida.