Samford Football Defeats Chattanooga To Claim First Southern Conference Championship Since 2013

Saturday, November 12

Chattanooga, Tenn.

12:30 PM

Samford University

9-1 , 7-0

Chattanooga

7-3 , 5-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Samford	7	21	7	0	35
Chattanooga	7	3	14	0	24

Photo by: Chase Cochran | Samford Athletics

Samford Football Defeats Chattanooga To Claim First Southern Conference Championship Since 2013

11.12.22 | Football

Box Score

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The 2022 Samford football team was crowned Southern Conference champions on Saturday after a 35-24 victory over the Chattanooga Mocs.

Samford earned the SoCon's automatic qualifying bid with the historic victory over Chattanooga and Furman's 23-13 win over Mercer.

"Well, I'm excited. Our guys have worked awfully hard and they believe. They keep finding a way to get it done," Samford coach Chris Hatcher said. "This is my 11th year in the conference and the first championship, so I'm excited. I'm just very appreciative of our staff and team. They prepare hard each and every day."

With the win, Samford moves to 9-1 on the season with the lone loss coming at the defending FBS national champion Georgia. The Bulldogs' seven conference victories are the most in program history.

Chattanooga drops to 7-3 on the season and 5-2 in the league.

Michael Hiers once again put numbers worthy of SoCon Player of the Week consideration by completing 37-of-47 passes for 353 yards with four touchdowns and a rushing score.

In front of his hometown crowd, Kendall Watson caught eight balls for 66 yards and three first-half touchdowns. D.J. Rias had his best day in a Bulldog uniform hauling in four receptions for 100 yards that included an 80-yard strike from Hiers to open the Samford scoring in the second half.

On the ground, Jay Stanton had 91 yards on 18 carries. Jaylan Thomas added 18 attempts for 30 yards.

To add to his 9 receptions for 80 yards, Chandler Smith also had a rush go for 18 yards.

In total, the Samford offense tallied 474 yards of total offense on 93 plays.

On the defensive side of the ball, Isaiah Richardson paced the Bulldogs with nine tackles and a game-altering end zone interception during the third quarter.

The linebacker duo of Nathan East and Noah Martin each had eight tackles on the day, while Martin also had a TFL.

After a couple of defensive starts that included a Hakeem Johnson interception, the Saturday fireworks began in earnest when Hiers found Watson for a 22-yard score to give Samford a 7-0 lead with 4:43 remaining in the opening frame.

Following a Moc touchdown to tie it at 7-7, Hiers took a one-yard plunge for a touchdown. The Hiers rushing touchdown put Samford up for good and opened a 21-point second quarter.

Hiers found Watson in the end zone two more times to help build a 28-10 advantage at halftime.

Chattanooga scored on the Mocs' opening drive of the second half before Hiers found a streaking Rias down the middle of the field for the Bulldogs' longest play from scrimmage this season and a 35-17 Samford advantage.

The Samford defense put an exclamation mark on the championship by pitching a shutout in the fourth quarter that was highlighted by a Fred Flavors field goal block to seal the 35-24 victory.

Samford returns home for a Senior Day showdown with the Mercer Bears on Nov. 19. Kickoff is slated for noon CT and tickets can be found here.

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