Eagles hold off Warhawks

It shouldn’t have come down to having to block a kick to preserve a win, but that’s the situation Georgia Southern found itself in Saturday night against Louisiana-Monroe.

The Eagles held a 23-21 lead with 1:27 to play and the Warhawks lining up to attempt a 42-yard field goal. Place-kicker Craig Ford got the kick off, but it never got beyond the line of scrimmage as sophomore safety R.J. Murray came up the middle and got a hand on the ball to preserve the Eagles’ Sun Belt Conference win.

It was the second straight big play for the Georgia Southern defense. On the previous play, linebacker Chris DeLaRosa sacked Monroe quarterback Garrett Smith for a 10-yard loss.

This was significant as it altered Ford’s angle of kick, and it came off a little lower than normal due to the distance. Murray was the man who happened to be in the right spot at the right time.

The Eagles (3-0, 2-0 Sun Belt Conference) fell behind 14-0 early and trailed 14-10 at the half but scored 23 unanswered points to build a 23-14 lead. Louisiana-Monroe scored with 10:12 left to play and then in the closing minutes drove from its own 34 to the Eagles’ 15 only to see the Georgia Southern defense tighten up.

Georgia Southern finished with 416 yards total offense, including 345 on the ground, while Louisiana-Monroe had 350 despite gaining only 22 in the third quarter.

Five who mattered

LA Ramsby: The junior running back churned out 86 yards on 14 carries to lead Georgia Southern in rushing. He had 12 yards last week in the win at South Alabama after missing the opener against Savannah State for disciplinary reasons.

Wesley Fields: The sophomore running back had 84 yards and scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter that proved to be the game-winner.

Matt Breida: The senior running back, who rushed for 3,093 yards the past two seasons, had 73 yards on 19 carries, both season highs. He now has 195 yards on 46 attempts.

Ukeme Eliqwe: The junior linebacker, a transfer from Florida State, had seven tackles and an interception.

Younghoe Koo: The senior place-kicker equaled his career high with three field goals and added a pair of extra points to help out an Eagles offense that had four trips into the red zone but came away with three field goals and a lost fumble.

Turning point

Trailing 14-10 at the half the Georgia Southern defense, which leads the Sun Belt in total defense, held the Warhawks to 22 yards and no first downs in the third quarter while the offense managed to get two field goals from Koo to gain the lead for good. Smith failed to complete a pass in the third quarter after completing 11-of-18 in the first half for 185 yards.

Observations

Streak stopped: Ramsby had a string on 10 consecutive games in which he scored a touchdown snapped, although he had an excellent opportunity in the second quarter only to see Kevin Ellison get the touchdown. Ramsby gained 46 yards on the 74-yard scoring drive and after he had taken it to the 6 on two carries from the 15. Ellison nimbly ran up the middle as the defense keyed on Ramsby.

Another streak stopped: The Eagles are not known for their passing, although head coach Tyson Summers said they were going to throw more. Ellison had completed his first six attempts of the year, but got his first miss when he misfired on his first passing attempt of the night. He finished 1-of-3 for 7 yards while Favian Upshaw completed 4-of-14 for 64 yards.

Mistakes galore: The Eagles were penalized more than the length of the football field, which upset Summers. Georgia Southern was flagged 14 times for 136 yards. The Eagles also had three fumbles, losing one.

They said it

Summers on the win: “It was a good job of our football team to find a way to win. I think you can look around and see Louisiana-Monroe has got a pretty good football team. Our offense gave us a chance at the end of the half and the start of the second half. We’re 3-0, 2-0 in the conference, and we’re playing hard. Those are positives. But, we can’t leave yards on the field, and leave the ball on the field. If we continue to do those things it’s going to hurt us. I’m frustrated as you can imagine.”

Wide receiver B.J. Johnson III on the field goal attempt: “I was getting ready for the one-minute drill. This is what we live for. When R.J. made the block it took all the pressure off the offense.”

Ellison on the field goal attempt: “We work the one-minute drill every day. Favian does a great job of running it in practice. Yes, he would have definitely been the one in there. Now we go on the road for four straight games, but we’re ready for it. We like traveling.”

What’s next?

Georgia Southern plays Saturday at Western Michigan.

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 11:45 PM with the headline "Eagles hold off Warhawks."