STATESBORO, Ga.-Eric Hadley spearheaded a tenacious Georgia Southern defense with four tackles for lost yardage and a pair of sacks while QB Chaz Williams guided the offensive unit with 142 yards and two touchdowns to lead Georgia Southern to a 40-7 victory over East Tennessee State Saturday at Paulson Stadium.
Hadley led an Eagle defense which posted 15 tackles for loss and seven sacks during the contest which limited the Bucs’ offensive output to just 120 yards – the fifth lowest opponent total in Eagle history and fewest since holding VMI to 90 in 1999. The Bucs, who managed just 14 rushing yards and 40 passing yards in the first half, finished with 67 ground yards while compiling 53 through the air.
“This game was a true credit to our defensive unit,” Georgia Southern head coach Mike Sewak said. “I appreciate the job that they did today. It was an honor to be a member of the Georgia Southern defense today. It says a lot that they held a good ETSU offense to 67 yards rushing.”
Williams’ effort marked his sixth consecutive 100-yard rushing game – enhancing a school standard he established last week when he produced his fifth straight triple-digit total at The Citadel.
“I thought Chaz did a good job of rallying the troops,” Sewak said. “ETSU was doing a good job of taking away the perimeter and we had to change our blocking scheme. Chaz did a great job of making the adjustment.”
Georgia Southern (7-2, 6-1) racked up 431 rushing yards on the way to a 467-yard total offense performance, marking the seventh time this season in which the Eagles eclipsed the 400-yard milestone. ETSU (4-6, 2-3) never scored on the Eagle defense.
“They are very athletic on the defensive front and we had some problems standing in the pocket,” ETSU head coach Paul Hamilton said. “They jammed our receivers well and we just could not get the ball down field.”
The Bucs avoided the shutout in the second quarter when ETSU linebacker Scott Brumett grabbeded an Eagle fumble at the two-yard line and fell into the end zone with 11:38 to play to make it 9-7 before the Eagles responded with 31 unanswered points.
“This was a tough day for us,” Hamilton said. “We knew coming in that it was going to be a difficult situation. Our team is tired. We have played 10 straight weeks as well as three pre-season weeks. I saw some fatigue today, both physically and mentally.”
Georgia Southern slotback Kevin Davis opened up the scoring by escaping the ETSU secondary for a career-long 52-yard touchdown run with 8:50 left in the first quarter.
For the seventh time this season, the Eagle special teams unit contributed with a blocked kick as Jonathan Woodham recorded the unit’s third blocked punt of the year on ETSU’s next possession. Woodham knocked down Aaron Bass’ boot at the Bucs’ 5-yard line but the Eagles could only extend their lead to 9-0 on a safety when the ball was recovered by ETSU inside its endzone.
After ETSU trimmed the margin to 9-7, GSU responded with scoring drives on its last three first-half possessions.
Williams capped a 10-play, 74-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring run with 8:14 left in the half to extend GSU’s lead to 16-7. Williams led the Eagles’ next drive with a 71-yard run on a first-down play to set up his 2-yard TD plunge with 2:16 left.
The Eagles used its two-minute offense after getting the ball back at the ETSU 48-yard line with just 1:21 left but had to settle for a career-long 45-yard field goal by Scott Shelton as time expired to take a 26-7 lead into the lockerroom.
After a scoreless third quarter, Georgia Southern used a 29-yard scoring run by Mark Myers to increase its cushion to 33-7 with 13:11 remaining in the game before David Young’s interception set up a two-yard TD rush by freshman fullback Brandon Andrews with 9:29 left.
Georgia Southern’s defense continued to dominate the Bucs in the second half by allowing only 66 total offensive yards to secure its 32nd victory in the last 33 regular season home contests.
“We are going to accept what happened today,” Hamilton said. “We have two conference games left and we are going to try and end the season on a positive note.
ETSU returns home to host Wofford in a 6 p.m. matchup at the Memorial Center.
The Eagles return to action Saturday, traveling to Furman for the opportunity to clinch at least a share of the SoCon championship.

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