Football Falls In Season Finale At Jacksonville State, 55-7

Nov. 11, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Samford football team dropped its season finale at in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival Jacksonville State, 55-7, Saturday at Paul Snow Stadium.

Samford committed five turnovers in the loss, to no turnovers for JSU.

"It always will be a game of momentum and turnovers," Samford head coach Bill Gray said. "They have a good football team. They exposed us in some spots and obviously it kind of got ugly there in the end."

For Samford (3-8, 1-7 OVC), Jefferson Adcock completed 11-of-22 passes for 143 yards. Jonathan Lowery had three catches for 72 yards. Marcus Rice rushed seven times for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Jacksonville State (6-4, 5-2 OVC) was led by Clay Green with 22 rushes for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Shawn Green rushed 13 times for 87 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Matt Hardin completed 14-of-19 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns.

JSU got on the scoreboard on the first play of the game when Craig Agee intercepted a Dante Williams pass and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown with 14:30 to go in the first quarter. Gavin Hallford's PAT gave the Gamecocks a 7-0 lead. Hardin hit James Wilkerson for a 42-yard touchdown with 7:17 to go in the first quarter, and Hallford's extra point made the score 14-0. Hardin later hit Josh Moten for a seven-yard touchdown with 2:54 to go in the first quarter. Hallford's extra point gave the Gamecocks a 21-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Hallford added a 32-yard field goal with 6:37 to go before halftime to push the Gamecocks' lead to 24-0. Samford's Rice put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard when he scored on a career-long 41-yard touchdown run with 4:52 to go in the second quarter. Shannon Fleming's PAT cut the JSU lead to 24-7. Hallford added a 29-yard field goal with 49 seconds to go before halftime to make the score 27-7 heading into halftime.

Clay Green scored on a one-yard run for the Gamecocks with 9:18 to go in the third quarter, and Hallford's PAT made the score 34-7. Green added a two-yard touchdown run with 5:35 to go in the third. After the PAT the Gamecocks held a 41-7 advantage.

Shawn Green scored on a two-yard run with 6:33 to go in the game to push the JSU lead to 48-7. The final score of the game came on Ty Griswold's 38-yard run with 1:07 to go to make the final score 55-7.

The game ends the season for Samford. Jacksonville State will wrap up its season next week at Eastern Illinois.