LEXINGTON, Va. –The Samford football team earned a thrilling 24-22 win at VMI Saturday afternoon at Foster Stadium.
 
The win was the first of the 2025 season for Samford as the Bulldogs improved their record to 1-6 overall and 1-4 in Southern Conference play. VMI fell to 1-6 overall and 0-3 in league play.
 
The Bulldogs trailed, 22-21, late in the game, but Samford's Trey Lenhardt intercepted a VMI pass, giving Samford the ball at its own 13-yard line with 5:11 to play. Freshman quarterback Brady Stober then led the Bulldogs on a drive to the VMI 19-yard line when freshman kicker Jake Garner kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the Bulldogs a 24-22 lead with 1:28 to go. VMI then drove to the Samford 15-yard line, but Ben Shrewsbury's field goal attempt went wide left, sealing Samford's win.
 
"I'm really proud of our guys," Samford head coach Chris Hatcher said. "We played really well in the first half, but then we lost the momentum. It was a back and forth game. We'll take a victory any way we can get it. We have so many new players on the team. This is a very difficult place to play, but the ball bounced our way at the end of the game."
 
For Samford in the game, Stober completed 34-of-43 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Preston Bird led all Samford receivers with nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. Calvin Jones caught nine passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. Stober also led the team in rushing with 13 carries for 45 yards.
 
The Samford defense was led by Jaden Mosley with 12 tackles. Malik Thornton had eight tackles, followed by Carson Sloan with seven tackles.
 
For VMI, Collin Shannon completed 24-of-38 passes for 419 yards and two touchdowns. Owen Sweeney caught 13 passes for 208 yards and one touchdown. The VMI defense was led by Joe Comello with 10 tackles.
 
Samford struck first on its opening drive of the game. Stober hit Jones in the back of the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs an early 7-0 lead with 11:23 left in the first quarter. The score capped an impressive 10-play, 73-yard drive that last three minutes and 37 seconds.
 
VMI got on the scoreboard on the first play of the second quarter when Shannon hit Sweeney for a 55-yard touchdown pass to knot the score at 7-7 with 14:50 left in the second period. On the ensuing drive, Stober connected with Sam Pickett III for a 22-yard touchdown to put the Bulldogs back on top, 14-7 with 11:50 to go in the second quarter.
 
Samford added one more score before halftime. Stober hit Bird for a 27-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 21-7 with 50 seconds to go in the second quarter. VMI drove down to the Samford nine-yard-line, but the field goal attempt at the second-quarter buzzer hit the upright and Samford went to halftime with a 21-7 lead.
 
On the opening drive of the third quarter, VMI's Leo Boehling scored on a 37-yard run and the Keydets' two-point conversion attempt was no good and the Samford lead was cut to 21-13 with 12:20 to go in the third period.
 
The Keydets struck again on the opening drive of the fourth quarter when Shrewsbury kicked a 25-yard field goal to cut the Samford lead to 21-16 with 13:36 left in the fourth period. VMI took the lead for the first time in the game when Shannon hit Noah Grevious for a 10-yard touchdown pass with 7:24 to go. Again, the two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 22-21, VMI.
 
Next up, Samford will return home to take on the Chattanooga Mocs on Saturday, Oct. 25. The game is set for a 2:30 p.m. start from Pete Hanna Stadium.


 
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