GREENVILLE, S.C. – Redshirt-freshman Lee Chapple set Georgia Southern program passing records in a game that turned into a defensive battle. In fact, the Eagles first defensive turnover in five games sealed a 17-10 win over 14th-ranked Furman Saturday at Paladin Stadium.
With the win Georgia Southern ends the 2008 season 6-5 overall (4-4 SoCon), guaranteeing the program’s 25th winning season in 27 years since football was re-established.
Georgia Southern could have possibly sealed a win late in the fourth quarter. However, the Eagles could not convert on 2nd-and-1 from Furman’s 47. Instead of going for it on 4th-and-1 at midfield with 3:06 remaining, head coach Chris Hatcher decided to send out redshirt-freshman Charlie Edwards and the punt team. Edwards sailed a punt down to the Furman 17.
The Paladins gained 42 yards on the first two pass plays, to the Eagles 41. They converted on 3rd-and-7 and were eventually set up on 2nd-and-5 from the 24. Two incomplete passes, the last broken up by freshman K.R. Snipes, set up fourth down. Senior Chris Covington forced junior quarterback Jordan Sorrells out of the pocket, and as he threw on the run Snipes stepped in front of the pass and intercepted it on the three yard line to seal the victory. It was the first defensive turnover by the Eagles since the final play of the Chattanooga game on October 4th.
"That was a tough call, being offensive coach, not going for it on fourth and one, but the way our defense was playing and with time working against those guys, sure enough it proved to be the right call. Today we played well in all phases of the game," said Hatcher.
While the defense took care of their part, Chapple and the offense came out firing on all cylinders. Making just his second start of the season (opener at Georgia), Chapple needed eight plays to cover 60 yards on the team’s opening possession to strike first. On 3rd-and-9 from the 32, Chapple scrambled and found Steve Cundari down the right sidelines for a touchdown. Adrian Mora hit the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second, the Eagles staged a 13-play, 80-yard drive. Chapple again found Cundari in the back of the endzone for a 6-yard score and Mora made it 14-0.
During the final minute of the first half, Mora nailed a career-long 42-yard field goal making it 17-0. For Mora that extended his streak of hitting a field goal in all eight of his games played during his redshirt-freshman year.
Furman (7-4, 4-3) drove down the field late and was able to convert a Matthew Cesari 35-yard field goal with six seconds left as the Eagles took a 17-3 lead into the locker room.
Chapple broke one single-game record by halftime, completing a new standard of 28 completions (in 40 attempts) for 260 yards and the two scores.
Edwards stuck another punt inside the Furman 20 early in the fourth quarter (five in all). The Paladins took over on their own 18, and Sederrik Cunningham took a direct snap for 34 yards across midfield. Sorrells completed a 4th-and-5 pass to keep the drive alive. Tersoo Uhaa eventually punched it in from two yards out with 6:25 remaining to make it 17-10.
The offense ate up 3:12 in time of possession before the final punt and put the game in the hands of the defense.
"I am very proud of our team. It was a defensive battle, especially in the second half. Our defense has been playing really well the last four weeks, and they played great today. We talked about if we executed our game plan defensively we really felt good about stopping them, and we sure enough did. How fitting it is we got a fourth down stop, something that had plagued us all season long. We were due for one," said Hatcher. "We’re disappointed in our inability to score in the second half. We had a couple of good drives but the way the game was going it was a field position battle. You have to give Charlie Edwards and our punt team a lot of credit."
Chapple set records with 39 completions in 56 attempts for a personal-high 323 yards and two scores. His yardage was the fourth-most in program history, while the 39 completions not only set a GS record was also the fourth-highest total in Southern Conference history. The previous marks were 27 completions (on two occasions) and 52 attempts (Tracy Ham in 1984).
In his two-year career, Cundari had six catches for 28 yards and a TD heading into the game. He finished the night with three catches for 45 yards and two scores.
Raja Andrews closed out his career with eight catches for 82 yards. He ends his senior year with GS season records of 64 catches for 873 yards, and his career with a record 127 catches. Andrews moved into second place with 1,538 receiving yards.
Tim Camp caught five passes for 50 yards. He finished fifth among the season ‘Top 10’ leaders with 36 catches this year after having only 23 during his first three years.
Freshmen running backs Zeke Rozier and Leander Barney caught six passes each while Jarrell Crawford hauled in five passes.
Freshman linebacker Dion Dubose recorded a personal- and team-high 10 tackles including the first two sacks of his career. Snipes recorded five solo tackles, broke up two passes and recorded the first interception of his career. E.J. Webb and Covington also added five tackles each.
Sorrells finished 19-of-35 for 184 yards and the interception. Uhaa led the rushing attack with 18 carries for 79 yards. Brandon Williams led the defense with 13 tackles.
"It sure feels good to send these seniors out victorious over our arch rival. I’m very excited and happy for them, unfortunately it seems like we are just starting to gel, to doing what we like to do,... that’s being aggressive on defense and throw the ball," stated Hatcher.
GAME NOTES: In the first quarter Andrews moved into second place among the GS career reception yardage leaders... Chapple finished the first quarter 12-of-15 passing for 131 yards, just three completions shy of his season-high. Early in the second quarter he broke his single-game completions mark... The three points allowed during the first half were the fewest since blanking Western Carolina during the first 30 minutes last year at Paulson Stadium... The Eagles out-gained Furman 376-305 in total yards... The 91 combined passing attempts and 59 completions also set a GS single-game record... The 10 points allowed to Furman were the lowest in the series since 2001 (20-10 win) and fewest by an opponent since a 49-7 win over Western in 2005... The 17 points scored marked just the 11th time in coach Hatcher’s nine years as a head coach that his team failed to score at least 20 points (110 games)... Chapple set a season record for passing completion percentage at 64.5 percent (78-of-121), 0.1 better than Kenny Robinson in 1995. Antonio Henton finished seventh at 55.9 percent (156-of-279).
