Samford Football Drops Hard-Fought Battle With Tough SIU Team, 22-18

Thursday, September 3

Birmingham, Ala.

6 PM

Samford University

0-2 , 0-0

Southern Illinois

1-1 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Southern Ill.	9	6	0	7	22
Samford	0	7	8	3	18

Samford Football Drops Hard-Fought Battle With Tough SIU Team, 22-18

9.3.26 | Football

Box Score Final Game Book (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford football team battled a tough Southern Illinois squad before eventually falling by a score of 22-18 Thursday evening at Bobby Bowden Field at Pete Hanna Stadium.

With the loss, Samford fell to 0-2 on the young season. Southern Illinois improved to 1-1 with the win.

"My heart kind of breaks for these guys," Samford head coach John Grass said. "We were close, had the game tied in the fourth quarter with the ball with opportunities to win the game and that's all you can ask. We just came up a little short. These guys are just playing their hearts out; they're giving all they've got."

For Samford in the loss, quarterback Gabarri Johnson completed 20-of-35 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns. Cayden Aukerman caught five passes for 41 yards and two touchdowns. Preston Bird had three catches for 63 yards. Ken Cherry led the running game with seven rushes for 44 yards.

The Samford defense was led by Spencer Conn with 12 tackles, including three solo stops. LaShon Young and Jalen Nelson had seven tackles each.

For Southern Illinois, Chandler Chapman rushed 24 times for 133 yards. Quarterback Jake Curry completed 13-of-29 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Fiegel led the SIU defense with 14 tackles, including six solo stops.

SIU scored on the opening drive of the game when Curry hit Karsen Konkel for a two-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead with 10:47 to go in the first quarter. At the 7:48 mark of the first period, SIU's Amir Dwight and Ibrahim Sanogo sacked Johnson in the end zone for a safety to make the score 9-0.

Samford got on the scoreboard in the second quarter when Johnson connected with Aukerman for a five-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 9-7 with 8:13 to go in the second period. SIU scored again when Curry hit Miles Marshall for a seven-yard touchdown pass and the two-point conversion failed to make the score 15-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.

With 2:18 to go in the third quarter Johnson found Aukerman for a five-yard touchdown pass. Johnson then connected with Aukerman on the two-point conversion to tie the score at 15-15.

SIU's Lem Wash scored on a three-yard run to push the lead to 22-15 with 10:50 to go in the fourth quarter. Samford's Ty Ippolito kicked a 42-yard field goal with 6:42 to go to cut the lead to 22-18. Samford, however, could get no closer as the Bulldogs fell by a score of 22-18.

Samford will open Southern Conference play by playing at Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Sept. 12. The game is set for a 6 p.m. start from Cookeville, Tenn.

FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS:
For the latest news and information on Samford football, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordFootball (Facebook), @SamfordFootball (Instagram) and @SamfordFootball (Twitter).