STATESBORO, GA. In the final analysis, it boiled down to two plays.
All-everything Jayson Foster skated 80 yards down the left sideline with 7:28 left in the game to give the Eagles their first lead since early in the first quarter and led Georgia Southern to a 21-17 come-from-behind victory over The Citadel in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon. The game was witnessed by 18,506 fans at Paulson Stadium and a regional television audience.
Prior to Foster's touchdown that gave the Eagles the decisive score, the Bulldogs had limited the all-purpose quarterback/running back to 94 yards rushing, far below his 161.6 yards per game average. He finished the contest with 157 net yards on 23 carries and two scores.
With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the Southern Conference, while the Eagles improve to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in league play.
Citadel quarterback Duran Lawson threw for 153 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another 109 yards before going down with a knee injury late in the fourth quarter. But that wasn't one of the two key plays that doomed the Cadets.
Foster's 80-yard scamper was the first, but a dropped pass on the Bulldogs' ensuring drive that killed any chance for any last-minute heroics.
With Lawson on the bench with ice wrapped around his left knee, substitute Bart Blanchard directed the Cadets' first drive that resulted in a punt. The Citadel defense forced the Eagles to punt, and Blanchard began the final drive with 3:36 left in the game on their own 33 yard line.
Blanchard connected with Tim Higgins on a crossing pattern for nine yards and then a sideline pass to Joshua Haney fell incomplete. On third and one from the 42, Blanchard found tight end Taylor Cornett open but Cornett was unable to grab the handle.
“We lost to a very sound football team this afternoon,” said a dejected Citadel coach Kevin Higgins. “No one shuts down Jayson Foster for an entire game, but we had opportunities and it came down to two plays that did us in.”
Georgia Southern began the game's scoring after the Bulldogs' second punt when Jesse Hartley drilled a 23-yard field goal with 4:58 remaining in the opening quarter to give the hosts a 3-0 lead. It marked GSU's eight consecutive game this season in which the Eagles scored first.
The Bulldogs came right back with an efficient nine-play, 73-yard drive to take the lead, 7-3, when Lawson connected with Andre Roberts on a 3-yard touchdown pass in the left-hand corner of the end zone with 1:04 left in the first quarter. In the drive, Tory Cooper scampered 13 yards to the Eagles' 16-yard line and Tim Higgins caught a 9-yard pass to give the Bulldogs a first-and-goal from the Eagles' three-yard line to set up the Lawson-to-Roberts score.
The Cadets, without facing a third-down situation, increased the lead to 14-3 that stood through halftime when Lawson found Tory Cooper on a swing pattern for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 5:20 left in the first half. A blocked punt by defensive end Trevar Broughton set up the drive as The Citadel took control of the ball on their own 47-yard line. The Bulldogs responded with a six-play, 53-yard drive that took only 2:19 off the clock.
The Eagles promptly took the second half kickoff and drove 57 yards in 16 plays to pull within eight points at 14-6 when Hartley drilled his second field goal of the game, this time a 20-yarder, with 8:13 remaining in the third period. The Eagles had a first and goal from the 3-yard line, but the Bulldogs, behind Andrew Rowell's two clutch stops, held GSU to a field goal.
A successful onside kick that barely went the necessary 10 yards was recovered by Hartley, the kicker, on the ensuing play. But the Bulldog defense held firmly as GSU went three-and-out.
The Citadel pushed three more points across to make their lead 17-6 when Mike Adams drilled a 37-yard field goal, connecting on his sixth consecutive made field goal. The Bulldogs drove 32 yards in nine plays and scored with just 18 seconds left in the third period. Highlights of the drive came on a personal foul call on Georgia Southern and a 15-yard reception by Joshua Haney that gave the Bulldogs a first-and-10 from the Eagles' 17 yard line.
But the Eagles came right back with a touchdown, bringing the score to 17-14, as Foster scrambled 15 yards with 12:36 left in the game and then passed to Andrews for the 2-point conversion. The drive lasted 2:42 and went for a total of 52 yards on nine plays.
The Citadel attempted a 29-yard field goal with 7:45 remaining, but a partially bobbled hold hampered Adams' timing and the ball hit the left upright and fell off the mark.
Foster then kept the ball himself on a 2nd down and 10 situation, got through the left side of his line unscathed and raced down the left sideline for the 80-yard, game-winning touchdown
“We had good pursuit on defense, but it is hard to do it for 60-70 plays,” Higgins said of his defense. “But we didn't score in the second half and we couldn't get points on the board like we wanted to. Our guys are competing hard and we have got to figure out how to make plays consistently in crucial situations.”
The Citadel defense dominated most of the game, while three Bulldogs led with double-digit tackles. Senior Joshua Lawson led with 14 total tackles, 11 of which were unassisted. Trevar Broughton recorded 13 tackles and two sacks, followed by Andrew Rowell who recorded 12 total tackles.
The schedule doesn't get any easier as two-time defending national champion Appalachian State visits Johnson Hagood Stadium on Saturday in a 2 p.m. Homecoming affair. The Bulldogs will attempt to gain win No. 6 that will guarantee The Citadel its first winning season in 10 years.
