The Samford Bulldogs handed Northwestern State Demons its 13th straight loss in Natchitoches, Louisiana on Saturday, improving to 1-1 on the season. The Bulldogs beat the Demons with a final score of 19-7, and dominated the important stastistical categories. Samford had 459 yards of total offense and 38:21 minutes of possession time, putting Samford at the top for most time of possession in the Southern Conference. Thanks to the SU defense, NSU only had 215 total yards and the Bulldogs also held the Demons to just 47 yards rushing. Samford was able to force the Demons to throw three interceptions on Saturday.

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“Our defense held Northwestern State to only 17 plays in the first half,” said junior offensive lineman and sports medicine major Joe Collins. “That’s outstanding for them and also goes to show how much our offense kept possession. We were also noticeably in much better shape than they were. The penalties were frustrating because it wasn’t NSU that was stopping us, we were just hurting ourselves.”

Senior Chris Evans and sophomore pre-business major Jonathan Sillers were responsible for 12 of SU’s 19 points, while sophomore kicker Cameron Yaw is accredited with the other seven.

“Our offense played well and did a good job of getting us in field goal range,” explained Yaw, a nursing major. “They put two touchdowns up too. I know we can play better, but, overall it was a good game and a good win.”

Yaw’s field goals were 44 and 43 yards respectively, making him 4 for 4 in the season, the only SoCon kicker to be 100% thus far.

Adding to Samford’s kicking game is senior punter and nursing major Bob Hooper, who was the SoCon’s preseason All-Conference punter pick. He had four kicks inside NSU’s 20 yard-line, including a punt that landed out of bounds at the 2 yard line.

Head Coach Pat Sullivan summed it up when he told samfordsports.com, “This was an outstanding win. The one thing that cannot go unnoticed is our kicking game was outstanding tonight.”

The game started out slowly with a scoreless first quarter. And it took Samford eight minutes in the second quarter to put the first six points on the board with a five yard run from Evans, a sports medicine major. Although the extra point was missed, Yaw added three more points as the first half ended. He added another field goal to the mix on the Samford’s first possession of the second half, and was followed by Sillers’ 1-yard run into the end zone halfway through the third to make the score 19-0.

In the fourth quarter, the Demons finally put some points on the board with a touchdown to narrow the gap to 19-7, but the Bulldogs held on for the win.

Freshman wide reciever Quin Roberson had another outstanding performance again Saturday, hauling in six catches for a total of 124 yards. His performance against the Demons helped him garner the Socon Freshman of the Week Award. Roberson, an undeclared major, is averaging 111.0 yards per game which ranks him second in the SoCon and seventh in the nation, respectively.

After two games on the road, the Bulldogs return to Seibert Stadium this Thursday for their home opener against Newberry College at 7 p.m.

By Allison Hubbard, The Samford Crimson
http://media.www.samfordcrimson.com/media/storage/paper1166/news/2010/09/15/Sports/Football.Captures.First.Win.Of.The.2010.Season-3931642.shtml