Hiers’ Career Night Lifts Samford Over Shorter In Season Opener

Thursday, August 31

Birmingham, AL

6:00 PM

Samford University

1-0 , 0-0

Shorter

0-1 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Shorter	7	0	7	0	14
Samford	14	35	13	7	69

Final Game Book (PDF)

Hiers’ Career Night Lifts Samford Over Shorter In Season Opener

8.31.23 | Football

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – To open the highly anticipated 2023 season, the No. 9 Samford football team throttled Shorter by a score of 69-14 in front of the Bulldog faithful at Seibert Stadium on Thursday.

With the win, Samford moves to 1-0 on the young season and 7-2 in the season openers under head coach Chris Hatcher. The Bulldogs improved to a perfect 7-0 in home openers in the Hatcher era.

Led by preseason All-American quarterback Michael Hiers' career-high five passing touchdowns, the Bulldog offense lit up the scoreboard with 69 points. The barrage is the most points scored in the game by Samford since dropping 73 on VMI in 2018.

Hiers finished the night completing 28-of-35 for 375 yards and the five scores. Fellow preseason All-America Chandler Smith hauled in two of those touchdowns along with five catches for a team-best 84 yards.

Ty King and DJ Rias each caught five passes with King going for 61 yards and Rias adding 57 more. In their Samford debut, transfer E. Jai Mason and Brendan Jenkins each found the end zone.

On the ground, Mychael Hamilton paced the Bulldog offense with a team-high 73 rushing yards on nine carries and two touchdowns in his debut. To go along with Hamilton, Damonta Witherspoon added two more scores of his own on the ground.

Jay Stanton, the elder statesman of the running back room, found paydirt once through the air and once on the ground on Thursday evening.

In mop-up duty, Quincy Crittendon and Nik Scalzo each saw playing time at quarterback.

The linebacker duo of Noah Martin and Josiah Cotton led the Bulldogs on defense. Martin recorded seven tackles with two for loss, while Cotton tallied six with two TFLs. In total, eight Samford defenders claimed a tackle for loss.

Hiers found Smith early and often in the opening frame as the duo linked up for a pair of scores to make it 14-7 after the opening 15 minutes.

Samford's offense jumped to hyperspace in the second quarter by scoring 35 points to put the game out of reach at 49-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.

Following the break, the Bulldogs put up a pair of scores before Shorter found the end zone on the final play of the third to make it 62-14 heading into the fourth.

Hamilton's second score of the night came with 6:05 remaining in the game to push the final to 69-14.

Samford hits the road and opens Southern Conference play at Western Carolina on Sept. 9 at 1:30 p.m. CT.

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