Samford Grounds No. 19 UT Martin For Senior Day Win

Saturday, November 18

Birmingham, AL

12:00 PM

Samford University

6-5 , 4-4

UT Martin

8-3 , 5-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
UT Martin	10	0	0	7	17
Samford	17	7	0	3	27

Samford Grounds No. 19 UT Martin For Senior Day Win

11.18.23 | Football

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On a day filled with celebration, the Samford football team upended the No. 19 UT Martin Skyhawks by a score of 27-17 at Pete Hanna Stadium on a picturesque fall Saturday afternoon.

With the Senior Day victory, The Bulldogs conclude the season with a 6-5 record. The win gives Samford a winning season for the sixth time in the Chris Hatcher era. With the loss, UT Martin drops to 8-3 on the season as the Skywhawks await their FCS Playoff fate.

Before the game got underway, over 30 Bulldog student-athletes and student support staff were recognized on the field for their contributions to the Samford football program as a whole.

For the second-straight home game, running back Jay Stanton rewrote the Samford record books as the senior rushed for a career-high 193 and a touchdown. The score moved Stanton past Brady Jones for the most rushing touchdowns in a career with 35. Stanton's 193 yards on the ground are the most by a Bulldog in a single game since Fabin Truss racked up 219 yards against Elon in 2012. To go along with his rushing performance, Stanton was also Samford's second-best receiver on the day with 37 yards on three catches.

Michael Hiers finished off his Samford career by going 21-of-31 for 205 yards and a touchdown through the air. With Saturday's performance, Hiers surpassed the 3,000-yard passing plateau for the season to become the first Samford quarterback to reach that mark in a back-to-back season since Devlin Hodges did in 2016-18.

Once again, Chandler Smith led the receiving group for the Bulldogs as the graduate student hauled in eight catches for 86 yards and was on the receiving of Hiers' lone passing touchdown.

Led by senior Noah Martin and freshman C.J. Douglas, the Samford defense forced four Skyhawk turnovers to go along with a second-half goal-line stand that helped secure the upset victory.

Martin tallied 11 tackles on the afternoon to eclipse 100 tackles on the season. It was the linebacker's fourth time this season with double-digit tackles and his second straight game. Douglas added 10 more tackles and was credited with forcing a pair of UT Martin fumbles. On the back end, Jamari Cannon and Kamron Smith had the two interceptions on the day.

After forcing a UT Martin punt on the opening drive of the game, Wilson Beaverstock connected from 28 yards out to open the scoring and give Samford an early 3-0 advantage.

UT Martin's Sam Franklin answered with a 70-yard touchdown to give the Skyhawks the lead at 7-3. A couple of drives later, UT Martin extended the lead to 10-3 with a 20-yard field goal.

The momentum of the game shifted late in the first quarter when it turned into the Chandler Smith Show. In a span of the final two minutes, Smith scored on a 26-yard pass from Hiers and for encore, Smith returned a punt 90 yards for a score to make it 17-10 Bulldogs after the opening 15 minutes of play.

Halfway through the second stanza, Stanton put the game away with a 61-yard rushing touchdown to break the record and put the Bulldogs up 24-10. The 61-yarder was his longest scamper of the season.

After a scoreless third period, Beaverstock put the game out of reach for good at 27-10 with a 40-yard field goal.

After allowing a touchdown that made it 27-17, the Bulldog defense clamped down on the Skyhawk over the final nine minutes of regulation to send the seniors off with one last win.

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