GREENVILLE, S.C. – QB Chaz Williams ran for three touchdowns and threw for another to lead the NCAA I-AA ninth-ranked Georgia Southern Eagles to a 42-21 Southern Conference title game win over the fourth-ranked Furman Paladins to secure at least a share of the program’s seventh conference championship.
Wiliams rushed 23 times for 110 yards and threw for 84 yards in pacing Georgia Southern (8-2, 7-1 SoCon) to its eighth straight victory. The sophomore from Apopka, Fla., registered touchdown runs covering 1, 2 and 3 yards and connected with slotback Zzream Walden on a 40-yard strike to help stake Georgia Southern to a 35-0 halftime lead.
“I’m awfully proud of these guys,” said first-year Georgia Southern head coach Mike Sewak. “They’ve played hard for the past seven weeks when everyone counted us out. “Obviously the key to the game was another outstanding effort by our defensive unit. To take a 35-0 lead into halftime was big, really big. Along with special teams, they kept giving us a short field in which to work. By the same token, I’m happy with the execution of our offense. It seemed like we kept getting big plays, especially on third down.”
“They came out and obviously executed better than we did,” said first year Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. “I was impressed with Chaz Williams. He’s a running back playing quarterback. He’s a bigger kid than they’ve ever had at the quarterback position. We didn’t do a good enough job of screening out and they went north and south too much on us.”
GSU rolled up 409 yards on the ground on the way to 493 yards in offense. Freshman fullback Jermaine Austin joined Williams in topping the 100-yard rushing plateau, totaling 105 yards on 19 carries.
Furman (6-3, 4-2 SoCon), which was held to a season low 68 yards rushing, got 234 yards from senior quarterback Billy Napier, who completed 17-of-28 passes for three touchdowns.
The defeat snapped Furman’s 11-game home winning streak and 15-game Southern Conference home winning streak, and marked the Paladins’ first regular season home loss since the 1998 season.
Safety David Young paced the Georgia Southern defensive effort with 11 tackles, including one for loss. Derrick Butler added seven stops and Freddy Pesqueira tacked on four tadckles, including two for loss and a pair of sacks.
Appalachian State 54
VMI 13
BOONE, N.C. – In his final regular-season home game, senior QB Joe Burchette completed 14-of-20 pass attempts for 224 yards and four touchdowns – all in the first half – in the Mountaineers win over the Keydets. Burchette connected on scoring passes of three, 17, 10, and 35 yards.
On Appalachian’s (7-3, 5-2) first possession, Burchette drove ASU 50 yards on five plays capped by a three-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Bettis. For Bettis, it marked his third touchdown catch of the season.
An interception by Josh Jeffries gave Appalachian the ball at the VMI 19 and ASU settled for a 24-yard field goal by Wright to make the score 9-0.
Richie Williams started the second half at quarterback and scored on touchdown scampers of 58 and 28 yards to highlight the second-half scoring. Williams totaled a team-high 145 yards on seven carries. It was the highest rushing total by an Appalachian quarterback since Gerard Hardy totaled 160 against Furman in a 41-28 ASU win on Oct. 7, 1995.
VMI quarterback Joey Gibson completed 10-of-26 passes for 69 yards. Gibson was intercepted three times.
Appalachian amassed 592 yards of total offense. VMI was limited to 150 total yards.
Chattanooga 34
The Citadel 31
CHARLESTON, S.C. – QB Ryan McCann completed 18-of-23 passes for 222 yards and a career-high four touchdowns to help the Mocs to their first win of the season over the Bulldogs.
“I told the guys that we had been playing well enough to beat anyone in this league all season. We have just been one or two plays away in several of the games,” Moc head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick stated. “Today a lot of leadership was shown and it was good for our players. They have worked hard all year and really deserved this win.”
Jones led the way offensively for the Mocs as he posted his third 100-yard receiving performance of the season. The Columbia, SC native hauled in five passes for 122 yards and two scores. Defensively, Josh Cain racked up 10 tackles marking his 11th straight game of double-digit tackle performances.
Klein led the way for the Bulldogs as he completed 24-of-32 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns. Johnson posted his fourth 100-yard receiving performance of the season as he brought down eight receptions for 128 yards and a score. The eight receptions move Johnson into second place all-time on the single season chart and he stands only three receptions away from tying the school record held by Brian Baima. Healy added career-high eight receptions for 81 yards and a score.

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