Box Score Game Book (pdf)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In the final home game of the season, the Wofford football team was defeated 27-24 by Samford on Saturday afternoon at Gibbs Stadium. The Terriers had two 100-yard rushers, but could not stop Samford’s Chris Evans who had 257 rushing yards.
The Terriers drops to 3-7 on the season and 2-5 in the SoCon, while Samford is 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the conference. Wofford was led by Michael Scott with 165 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Mitch Allen had 103 rushing yards. Chris Evans led the Bulldogs with 257 rushing yards, while quarterback Dustin Taliaferro had a rushing touchdown and threw two touchdown passes.
“We just have run out of people for the most part,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “We have been beat up and we lost another one in Gary Blount. We had some issues with assignments and stuff like that. In the first half defensively I thought we played solid and offensively we struggled. In the second half we came out offensively and did some good stuff and gave ourselves a change to win. I felt that if we got the ball one more time, we might have had a shot. It is frustrating, there is no doubt it is frustrating. But it is a learning season and a learning process and nobody likes the outcome. We felt like we had an opportunity to win the game. We had some plays that if we make in the first half, you are sitting a little better. You have that much time on the clock you are hoping you can stop them and make them kick one more time. The problem was we never got it back.”
Samford began the game with a 46-yard kickoff return by Alex Barnett. The drive stalled and a 52-yard field goal attempt by Cameron Yaw went wide left at 12:37. Each team then traded punts. On the second drive of the day for Wofford, Mitch Allen found Brenton Bersin alone in the middle of the field and Bersin outran the defense for a 69-yard touchdown. Wofford had a 7-0 lead at 5:09 in the first quarter.
On the next drive by the Bulldogs, Chris Evans had a 34-yard run to get the ball into Wofford territory. The drive was capped by a 35-yard field goal by Cameron Yaw with 1:51 left in the quarter for a 7-3 score.
Wofford turned the ball over on a fumble on the second play of their next drive and Samford recovered at the Terriers 26-yard line. The drive ended with a 43-yard field goal attempt by Cameron Yaw that as wide left at 14:07 in the second quarter. Wofford was able to drive, but a 41-yard field goal by Christian Reed was blocked and Samford took over.
Samford gained one first down before punting back to the Terriers. Wofford gained a couple first downs before a fourth-and-seven that was not converted. With the ball back, the Bulldogs picked up one first down before punting again.
The Terriers got the ball back with 2:09 left on the clock and used a 24-yard run by Mitch Allen and a 22-yard catch by Joseph Inman to get the ball inside the 10-yard line. However the Terriers were stopped twice from the one-yard line and turned the ball over on downs with 24 seconds left in the half.
To open the second half, Wofford had a first down run by Mitch Allen before having to punt. Samford used a 47-yard pass from Dustin Taliaferro to Riley Hawkins to move to the Wofford 20-yard line. An eight-yard touchdown pass from Taliaferro to Richie Fordham ended the drive and the Bulldogs took a 10-7 lead with 9:59 in the third quarter.
With the ball back, Wofford needed nine plays to go 62-yards, including four rushing first downs by Michael Scott. Christian Reed tied the game with a 24-yard field goal at 5:39 in the third quarter. Samford responded with a quick drive that included a 30-yard run by Chris Evans and ended with Dustin Taliaferro taking it in from one-yard out. The Bulldogs had a 17-10 lead at 4:24 in the third.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Michael Scott went 59-yard up the middle to tie the game at 17-17 with 4:08 left in the third quarter. Samford used a 42-yard run by Chris Evans to get inside the 20-yard line. The drive ended with a 25-yard field goal by Cameron Yaw with 46 seconds left in the quarter to take a 20-17 lead. Wofford was unable to gain a first down and punted.
After the punt, Samford scored on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dustin Taliaferro to Jonathan Lowery in the left corner of the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 27-17 lead with 10:57 remaining in the game.
Wofford responded with a 14-yard touchdown run by Mike Rucker to cut the lead to 27-24 with 8:28 left in the game. However the Bulldogs put together a 75-yard and 17-play drive that used the remainder of the clock and ended the game with taking a knee on the one-yard line as time expired.
The Terriers had 466 total yards of offense, with 347 coming on the ground. Samford had 478 total yards, with 304 rushing. Wofford was 1-of-9 on third downs, while Samford was 7-of-16. Samford had the lead in time of possession.
Wofford will play the final game of the 2009 season on Saturday, November 21 at Furman. The game will be shown on SportSouth at 3:00 pm.
Wofford vs. Samford Post-Game Notes
The game was the final home game for 14 Wofford seniors, who served as captains. The 14 seniors are: Gary Blount, Mitch Clark, Stev Davitte, Grant Duren, Joe Fornadel, Mychael Johnson, Justice Joslin, Hunt Marion, Austin Palmer, Drew Parks, Johnson Richardson, Chris Tommie, Cody Van Der Linden and Matt Vick.
Wofford wore black “throwback” jerseys with black pants in the game. It was the first time wearing black pants since September 9, 2006 against Coastal Carolina.
Chris Evans broke the Samford school record for career rushing. His 257 yards against Wofford was the most by a Terrier opponent since Jayson Foster (Georgia Southern) had 279 in 2007.
Michael Scott had a career-high 165 rushing yards in the game. It was his first 100+ rushing game and just the fourth this season by the Terriers.
Mitch Allen had 103 rushing yards for his first 100+ rushing game of the season and second of his career. It marked the first time this season Wofford had two 100+ rushers.
Attendance was 5,917 at Gibbs Stadium.
