BOX SCORE

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford football team used a balanced offensive attack and some big plays in all three phases of the game to earn a 55-21 win over Alabama A&M in the team's home opener Saturday night at Seibert Stadium. The win was the 150^th career win for head coach Chris Hatcher.
 
"I'm really excited for our guys," Hatcher said. "We were coming off of a huge win on the road the previous week and I was a little concerned with an out of conference game of maybe having a let-down. But I thought we got our legs back under us midweek, and our guys came out and played well. I thought defensively we made some big plays. We finally forced some turnovers, had a pick six and we had some big plays in the kicking game."
 
As a team, Samford finished with 479 yards of total offense, with 254 yards coming through the air and 225 coming on the ground. The rushing total is the highest of the season for the Bulldogs.
 
"Offensively, we sputtered around early in the game, but we kind of found our groove there in the second half and were able to run the ball effectively behind our veteran offensive line," Hatcher said. "All-in-all it's a really good win against a quality opponent."
 
For Samford offensively, freshman running back Jay Stanton rushed 15 times for a career-high 116 yards and two touchdowns. The performance marks the first time a Samford player has rushed for over 100 yards this season. Stanton also caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown.
 
Quarterback Chris Oladokun completed 16-of-31 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed 16 times for a career-high 95 yards and a touchdown. Montrell Washington caught six passes for a career-high 127 yards and a touchdown. He also returned five punts for 120 yards on the night.
 
For the Samford defense, John Staton led the way with 15 tackles. Ty Herring intercepted a pass and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter. Nick Barton also had an interception to go along with his five tackles. Mitchell Fineran was good on both of his field goal tries, making kicks from 34 and 29-yards out.


 
For Alabama A&M, Jordan Bentley rushed 17 times for 137 yards. Aqeel Glass completed 19-of-33 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Mike Mills and Desmond Fletcher had an interception each.
 
Alabama A&M struck first when Spencer Corey scored on a 72-yard run on a fake punt to give the visiting Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 10:06 left in the first quarter. Samford tied the game at 7-7 when Oladokun scored on a six-yard run at the 8:19 mark in the opening period. Samford took the lead when Fineran kicked a 34-yard field goal to make the score 10-7 with 3:39 to go in the first quarter.
 
Alabama A&M took the lead again when Glass hit Joseph Burke for a four-yard touchdown, giving AAMU a 14-10 lead with 13:15 left in the second quarter. Samford's Stanton scored on a five-yard run to give Samford a 17-14 lead with 6:51 to go in the second period.
 
Samford's Herring intercepted an Alabama A&M pass and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown to make the score 24-14 with 4:26 left in the second quarter. Oladokun then hit Robert Adams for a diving 13-yard touchdown to push Samford's lead to 31-14 with just seven seconds left before halftime.
 
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Fineran kicked a 29-yard field goal to make the score 34-14 with 9:45 left in the third quarter. On Alabama A&M's ensuing possession, the visitors had a second-and-goal at the Samford one-yard line, but the Samford defense stopped them on the next three plays to end the threat and take over on downs.
 
On Samford's ensuing offensive drive, Oladokun hit Washington for an 82-yard touchdown to push Samford's lead to 41-14 with 1:53 to go in the third quarter. Ryan Stoves scored on a 10-yard pass from Glass for Alabama A&M to cut the lead to 41-21.
 
Samford added two more scores in the fourth quarter. Stanton scored on a two-yard run with 13:11 to play to push Samford's lead to 48-21. Oladokun then hit Stanton for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 10:25 left to make the final score 55-21.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 2-2 on the young season. Alabama A&M falls to 2-2 with the loss.
 
Samford will play at home again next week, hosting The Citadel on Saturday, Sept. 28. The game is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium.