Attachment 377
STATESBORO, Ga. - A 31-point second quarter propelled the #1 ranked Georgia Southern Football team (7-0, 5-0) past Presbyterian College, 48-14, Saturday afternoon at Paulson Stadium. The Eagles led 38-0 at halftime and amassed over 500 yards of total offense for the fourth time this season. GSU's second quarter scoring output was the most points in a quarter since a 2004 win over Johnson C. Smith.
GSU ran for 353 yards on the ground and completed seven passes for 151 yards. Jerick McKinnon (Marietta, Ga.) ran for 98 yards on nine carries all of which came in the first half. Robert Brown (Macon, Ga.) rushed a team-high 11 times and averaged 6.1 yards per carry.
The Eagles put in their second-string after halftime and used the opportunity to get plays for the backups. Devin Scott (Tucker, Ga.) carried the ball seven times for 48 yards in the second half, while Miguel Gilmore (Orlando, Fla.) scored his first career touchdown on a 12-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Ezayi Youyoute (Wauchula, Fla.) completed all three of his pass attempts and tallied 31 yards while playing quarterback in the second half.
Presbyterian College got off to a fast start after Michael Ruff broke free along the left sideline for 59 yards before being knocked out of bounds inside the red zone on their first drive of the contest. The Georgia Southern defense stood tall and forced a field goal attempt which was blocked by Javon Mention (Tampa, Fla.).
The Eagles responded to the early challenge, scoring four touchdowns in their next five drives to lead 28-0 late in the second quarter. GSU tacked on two more scores before the half came to a close and led 38-0 at the break. Nico Hickey (Columbus, Ga.) recovered a bad snap in the endzone with four minutes remaining to jump ahead 35-0, and Adrian Mora (Dalton, Ga.) tacked on a field goal to make it 38-0. Mora finished the afternoon with his 300th career point and moved into a tie with Tim Foley for 5th all-time in the Eagles scoring annals.
The second-string offense came out of the gate after halftime ready to play and engineered a 12 play drive that ate over seven minutes off of the clock. Mora capped the drive with a 37-yard field goal.
PC scored twice, once in each quarter, in the second half and followed the field goal with a 10 play 75-yard drive which ended in a six yard pass to Arthur Williams. Following Gilmore's touchdown in the fourth quarter, Presbyterian engineered another long drive of 14 plays and scored a touchdown on Lance Byrd's two-yard rush.
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