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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford football team picked up a key Southern Conference victory by earning a 37-31 win over the 20^th-ranked Wofford Terriers Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 2-2, all in SoCon play. Wofford falls to 1-2, also all in league action. The win was Samford's sixth straight over Wofford.
 
"Winning ballgames is tough, especially against a top-ranked opponent in back-to-back weeks," Samford head coach Chris Hatcher said. "I felt like we've been really close. I told the team Monday after the Furman game, just stay the course. We've got a great team, we just have to fix some little things here and there. I don't know if we played as good of football as we can play, but we played well enough to win. We found a way in the end, and I'm really proud of our guys."
 
Wofford was driving late in the game with a chance to win, but Samford freshman safety Wade White picked off a Wofford pass to seal the victory for the Bulldogs. Sophomore safety
 
Chris Edmonds also had a big day for the Samford defense, recording his SoCon-leading fourth interception of the season, and he forced a fumble that ended another Wofford drive. Edmonds ended the game with eight total tackles. Thomas Neville and Nathan East led Samford with 10 tackles each.
 
"Chris (Edmonds) is a tremendous player and he's just going to get better each and every week," Hatcher said. "This is the first time he's seen significant action. He's just a great young man and very deserving of any accolades he gets."
 
Offensively for Samford, Liam Welch completed 24-of-36 passes for a career-high 359 yards and one touchdown. Ty King also had a career day with seven catches for a career-high 178 yards and a touchdown. King also returned three kickoffs for an average of 20 yards per return. Dakota Chapman led the Samford running game with 10 carries for 38 yards and a touchdown. Chris Oladokun also scored a pair of one-yard touchdowns on his only two carries of the game.
 
Mitchell Fineran had another good day for the Samford special teams. Fineran was good on all three of his field goal attempts, making kicks from 41, 35 and 40 yards out. Fineran was also 4-for-4 on extra-point attempts.
 
For Wofford, Jimmy Weirick completed 6-of-11 passes for 117 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. T.J. Luther caught three passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. The Terrier defense was led by Logan Barnes with 10 tackles.
 
On Samford's first play from scrimmage, Wofford's Darron Paschal intercepted a Samford pass at the Bulldogs' 44-yard line. Three plays later, Wofford's Weirick hit Luther for a 38-yard touchdown pass to give the Terriers a 7-0 lead with 12:57 to go in the first quarter. The Terriers added to their lead when Walker Gliarmis kicked a 28-yard field goal to make the score 10-0 with 9:25 left in the first period.
 
On Samford's next offensive possessions, the Bulldogs drove 78 yards, with the play capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Oladokun to cut the Wofford lead to 10-7 with 6:03 left in the opening period. On the first drive of the second quarter Wofford's Peyton Derrick hit Landon Parker for a six-yard touchdown pass to push the Terriers' lead to 17-7 with 10:32 to go in the second period.
 
Samford's Chapman scored on a six-yard run to make the score 17-14 with 9:05 left in the second quarter. Samford's Fineran booted a 41-yard field goal to knot the score at 17-17 with 5:07 remaining in the second quarter. With just eight seconds left in the second quarter, Derrick scored on a one-yard run to give Wofford a 24-17 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
On Samford's first offensive drive of the third quarter, Welch hit King for a 52-yard touchdown to tie the score at 24-24 with 12:10 left in the quarter. Samford took the lead when Oladokun scored on a one-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 31-24 advantage with 8:48 left in the third quarter.
 
Fineran kicked a 35-yard field goal to make the score 34-24 with 14:22 left in the fourth quarter. Fineran added another field goal, this one from 40-yards out to give Samford a 37-24 lead with 10:32 left. Wofford's Lovelace scored on a one-yard run to cut the lead to 37-31 with 4:20 to go in the contest.
 
Samford will play at home again next week when the Bulldogs host the VMI Keydets on Saturday, March 20. The game is set for a 12 p.m. start from Seibert Stadium.
 
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