Samford hands Wofford its first defeat
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Jordan Weaver drilled a 27-yard field goal late in the game for the lead and Omari Williams made an interception in the final seconds to preserve it as Samford edged Wofford 24-21 on Saturday, handing the Terriers their first loss.
Weaver’s field goal came with 1:28 left and made the difference for the Bulldogs (5-2, 3-1 Southern) who never led by more than a touchdown. Williams terminated the ensuing Wofford drive with a leaping interception in the end zone with less than 10 seconds left.
Samford’s Devlin Hodges threw for 427 yards and three touchdowns. Kelvin McKnight had 170 yards receiving and a score.
Hodges hit Clarke Miller from 11 yards for a score to break the 7-7 halftime tie and put the Bulldogs up 14-7 with 6:59 left in the third. Chris Shelling caught a 23-yard touchdown from Hodges in the fourth to keep Samford on top, but Wofford (6-1, 4-1) replied with quarterback Joe Newman’s 10-yard TD run to tie it at 21-all with 6:11 left to play.
› Furman 28, Mercer 21
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Antonio Wilcox rushed for three touchdowns and Joe Farrar’s late interception secured it as Furman picked up its fifth straight victory.
Furman (5-3, 4-1) was successful on four fourth-down plays and none more important than when Wilcox broke over the left side from Mercer’s 5 to get a first down on fourth-and-1 in the final quarter. On the next play Wilcox smashed over right tackle and into the end zone from the 4 for the winning touchdown.
Mercer’s Kaelan Riley drove the Bears 59 yards in 10 plays in the closing seconds to Furman’s 26. Farrar picked off Riley’s pass in the end zone with three ticks left on the clock.
Riley was 26-of-34 passing for 289 yards and one touchdown for Mercer (4-4, 3-3) which had won three straight. › Western Carolina 26, VMI 7
LEXINGTON, Va. — Tyrie Adams threw for 195 yards and a score, and Joshua Gibson kicked four field goals to lead Western Carolina past VMI.
Adams completed 20 of 33 passes, including a 29-yard scoring pass to Terryon Robinson in the second quarter that gave the Catamounts (6-2, 4-1) the lead for good at 13-7. Western Carolina has won 15 straight in the series and the Catamounts won their third road game in a season for the first time since 2002.
Duncan Hodges’ 1-yard plunge gave the Keydets (0-8, 0-5) a 7-0 lead with 3:15 left in the first quarter. VMI came in as the least penalized team in the FCS but was flagged five times for 50 yards against the Catamounts. The Keydets had three sacks, giving them 16 on the season — two more than all of last season.