GSU Rolls in Second Half for Ninth SoCon Title
11/13/2011 7:55:00 PM | Football
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Following a 21-point second-half scoring outburst the Georgia Southern Football team (9-1, 7-1) found itself hoisting their first Southern Conference Championship Trophy since 2004 after a 31-10 victory over the Wofford Terriers (7-3, 5-2).
In a showdown between the SoCon's top two teams, Jaybo Shaw (Flowery Branch, Ga.) converted three second-half drives of 10 or more plays into short-yardage touchdowns to break open a nip-and-tuck first half and win their ninth Southern Conference Title since joining the league in 1993.
The Eagles scored all three touchdowns in just four second-half drives. GSU scored on their opening drive of the second half, marching 90 yards on 11 plays and added a second third-quarter score on a near seven-minute drive.
Georgia Southern ran out the clock in the fourth quarter after taking control of the ball with 6:52 remaining in the half. Shaw capped off a five minute 11-play drive with a two-yard touchdown score. The Eagles kept control of the ball with an onside kick and took two knees to run out the clock for their first outright SoCon Title since 2002.
GSU bounced back from a pair of season lows in the rushing column with their best rushing performance since a 48-14 victory over Presbyterian College. GSU ran for 290 yards on the ground and amassed 401 total yards of offense behind a career-best 165 rushing yards from Dominique Swope (Buford, Ga.).
The Terriers were set to enter the looker room with a halftime lead but a fumble by Donovan Johnson and a 21-yard touchdown pass from Shaw to Zach Walker (Wrightsville, Ga.), his first of the season, ended that thought.
The Eagles scored with time expiring after covering 46 yards in just 34 seconds and led 10-7 at the halftime break. Adrian Mora (Dalton, Ga.) netted his 12th field goal in as many attempts this season and gave Georgia Southern a 3-0 lead on their opening drive of the contest.
The Terriers erased an early second-quarter scoring opportunity for the Eagles by forcing a fumble on an errant pitch to Nico Hickey (Columbus, Ga.) which led to an 80-yard touchdown drive. Mitch Allen ran 31 yards to cap off the eight-play drive and put the Terriers on top 7-3 with 13:20 to play in the half.
Georgia Southern heads to Alabama, ranked #3 in the BCS, next Saturday at 2 p.m. est for the final regular season contest of the year.
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