Football Falls to Samford in Season Opener

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Lions football team lost their season opener at NCAA Division I opponent Samford, 77-7. It was the season opener for the Bulldogs as well.

Austin Brown threw for 68 yards and one touchdown completing 6-10 pass attempts. Craig Rucker caught five passes for 62 yards and one touchdown. Chris Ferdinand led the Lions' defense with a game high 13 tackles. Cameron Ray followed with eight tackles, a tackle-for-loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Devlin Hodges threw for 313 yards completing 39-49 passes. He recorded five touchdown passes in the contest. TaDarryl Marshall was on the receiving end of 14 passes for 100 yards and one score. Omari Williams and Jamerson Blount led the Bulldogs defensively with seven tackles apiece. Blount added a fumble recovery.

Samford accumulated 573 yards of total offense while the Lions recorded 136 total yards of offense. Samford threw for 352 yards and forced three Lion turnovers.

Devon Schmitt caught a two-yard pass from Hodges with 12:10 left in the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead. Samford drove 70 yards on 10 plays in their first scoring drive.

Three minutes later, Roland Adams ran in from four yards out capping off a five-play, 62-yard drive to give Samford a 14-0 lead with 9:26 on the clock in the first quarter.

Brown found Rucker on a one-yard pass with 12:17 left in the second frame to trim the Bulldogs advantage to 14-7. Late in the first half, Samford scored twice to take a 28-7 lead into the locker room at halftime. Hodges hit T.D. Marshall on a nine yard pass with 1:24 left in the second quarter and then Hodges found Adams on a six-yard scoring pass with 19 seconds left in the first half of play. Samford accumulated 334 yards of total offense (224 yards passing) in the first half compared to 87 total yards by the Lions.

After a MHU fumble, Hodges found Emmanuel Obajimi for a six-yard pass play with 13:16 left in the third stanza to give the Bulldogs a 35-7 advantage. It was a six-play, 34-yard drive.

K'rondis Larry dove in from three yards out to extend the Bulldogs lead to 42-7 with 11:27 left in the third quarter. The drive covered four-plays for 40 yards.

Troy Forrest was on the receiving end of a five-yard touchdown pass from Hodges with 4:37 left in the third period. The nine-play, 56-yard drive gave Samford a 49-7 lead.

Liam Welch and Andrew Harris connected on a 23-yard pass play with 14:20 left in the fourth quarter before Aaron Harris returned a Lion fumble 43 yards for a touchdown with 12:02 left in the contest to make the score 63-7. Drew Couto scored twice in the final five minutes of play to make the final tally 77-7 in favor of the hosts. He had a one-yard scoring run at the 4:52 mark and then scored from 13 yards out with 1:40 left in regulation.

Mars Hill will host Shorter on Saturday, September 10. Kickoff in the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium is set for 1 p.m.