Box Score Game Box (pdf)
Inside Wofford Football
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – On Saturday night, the Wofford College football team defeated Samford 38-23 at Gibbs Stadium. The Terriers had three players rush for over 100 yards as the team had 443 yards on the ground. It was the home opener for Wofford and also the conference opener for the Terriers.
The Terriers are 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the SoCon. Samford falls to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Wofford was led by Donovan Johnson with 173 rushing yards, Eric Breitenstein with 126 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and Mitch Allen with 110 yards rushing and 69 yards passing. Eric Eberhardt had two sacks for Wofford. Samford was led by Kelsey Pope with 96 receiving yards and a touchdown.
“We won and did not play as well as we are capable of playing,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “I thought offensively we had a good plan. Our backs ran really hard. Mitch Allen had a great game. He had the one interception, but in terms of reading the option he did an outstanding job for us. You look at defense and we played great defense all day. The problem was we gave them a short field which made it difficult for them. In the second half the defense came up time and time with big sacks and we did not allow them to keep the football. The kicking game had some issues. We fixed the kickoff coverage as the game went on. I was proud of the effort, but too many penalties.”
The Bulldogs opened the game with the ball and scored on a 29-yard field goal by Cameron Yaw at 10:32 in the first quarter. Wofford used a long kickoff return by Stephon Shelton to start at midfield. After two first downs, Eric Breitenstein converted on a fourth-and-one. The Terriers took a 7-3 lead when Breitenstein scored from two-yards out with 4:27 left in the first quarter.
Samford answered with another field goal by Cameron Yaw, this time from 30-yards, with 1:01 on the clock in the first quarter. On the next drive by the Terriers, Mitch Allen was intercepted. The Bulldogs were able to convert the turnover into points when Kelsey Pope scored from three-yards out to take a 13-7 lead with 9:51 on the clock in the second quarter.
Wofford then used a 40-yard run and a 30-yard run by Donovan Johnson to move inside the 20. The Terriers used a 26-yard field goal by Christian Reed to cut the lead to 13-10 with 7:32 left in the first half. The Wofford defense, aided by two big Samford penalties, forced a three-and-out.
With the ball back, the Terriers converted a fourth-and-one by Mitch Allen. Allen weaved his way 21-yards to the endzone for a touchdown and a 17-13 lead with 51 seconds left in the half. The Bulldogs were able to tack on a 46-yard field goal by Cameron Yaw as time expired in the half to make it a 17-16 score at the break.
To open the second half, Wofford gained four first downs before Eric Breitenstein scored his second touchdown of the day. The eight-yard run gave the Terriers a 24-16 lead with 9:12 on the clock in the third quarter. The Wofford defense then forced a three-and-out by the Samford offense. The Terriers then were able to move the ball down the field, but Christian Reed missed wide left on a 36-yard field goal attempt.
Samford picked up one first down before punting back to Wofford. The Terriers went three-and-out and punted for the first time in the game. The Bulldogs attempted a 47-yard field goal, but Cameron Yaw was wide left on the try. After gaining two first downs, including a 38-yard run by Donovan Johnson, Eric Breitenstein capped the drive with a one-yard run for a 31-16 lead with 8:42 left in the game.
The Bulldogs answered with a 61-yard touchdown pass from Dustin Taliaferro to Kelsey Pope to cut the lead to 31-23 with 7:31 left in the fourth quarter. Wofford gained one first down before having to punt back to Samford. On the first play for the Bulldogs, Eric Eberhardt sacked Dustin Taliaferro and forced a fumble that was recovered by Ameet Pall. One play later, Donovan Johnson scored on an 18-yard touchdown run for a 38-23 lead with 4:32 remaining. Both teams had two more drives in the final minutes, but the Terriers were able to run out the clock for the victory.
Wofford had 512 total yards, with 443 on the ground. Samford had 275 yards, 241 of which were passing. Wofford had the time of possession advantage by a 37:43 to 22:17 margin. Wofford was 7-of-13 on third downs and 2-of-2 on fourth down. Samford was 4-of-14 on third down and converted 2-of-4 fourth downs.
The Terriers will host Appalachian State at Gibbs Stadium next Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm. The game will be broadcast on the SoCon Television Network. The Mountaineers were 14-12 winners over Chattanooga on Saturday and are 3-1 on the season (1-0 SoCon).
Wofford vs. Samford Post-Game Notes
Wofford had three 100-yard rushers for the first time since October 16, 2010 at Western Carolina.
Donovan Johnson had a career-high 173 rushing yards and it was his second career 100+ rushing game. Eric Breitenstein marked his 12th career 100+ rushing game, fifth most in school history. Mitch Allen had his fifth career 100+ rushing game.
The 443 rushing yards by the team were the most since 501 yards at Western Carolina last season.
The victory by Wofford was the first by the home team in the last four games of the series with Samford.
The Wofford defense allowed only 34 rushing yards in the game.
Game captains were Eric Eberhardt and Nate Page.
Injuries in the game for Wofford included Mike McCrimon, SeQuan Stanley and Joseph Inman. Their status will be updated later in the week.
Attendance was 7,329 at Gibbs Stadium.
