STATESBORO, Ga. -- Sophomore quarterback Chaz Williams had his 10th straight 100-yard rushing game and scored two second-half touchdowns as Georgia Southern advanced to the semifinals of the Division I-AA playoffs with a 31-7 win over Maine Saturday at Allen E. Paulson Stadium.
The Eagles (11-2) host Western Kentucky next week. The Hilltoppers advanced with a 31-28 road win over Western Illinois.
"You could see on film that Maine would be physical," GSU head coach Mike Sewak said. "We played a tough team, and we showed that our kids are tough, too."
Still, the Eagles needed just about every trick in their triple-option playbook to get the job done.
"I think we made them reach deep in their bag," Maine coach Jack Cosgrove said. "They pitched it exceptionally well."
When Williams wasn't keeping the ball himself, he was either handing off to redshirt freshman fullback Jermaine Austin up the middle, or pitching wide to fleet slotbacks Zzream Walden or Mark Myers. Austin rushed for 143 yards, including a 7-yard TD dash; Walden added 85 yards and Myers 73 yards.
"I think they were surprised we could run against them," Sewak said. "I don't think they're used to seeing running backs like ours."
Maine (11-3), which shared the Atlantic-10 Conference championship with Northeastern during the regular season, averaged 280 pounds across its offensive line, but the Black Bears were no match for the speed of Georgia Southern's option attack.
"They're as good as they looked on film," Cosgrove said.
Jon Meczywor, who was Maine's third-string quarterback until starter Jake Eaton and backup Chris Legree both went down with injuries three weeks ago, was held to 8-of-22 passing for 99 yards, with one interception. One of his completions, however, went to Kevin McMahan who pulled the ball down in a crowd at the goal line and tumbled across for Maine's only score.
Williams had 106 yards on 27 carries, including TD runs of 2 and 5 yards in the fourth quarter when the Eagles broke it open, rolling to their 10th straight home win and 46th in their last 47 games at Paulson Stadium.
The Eagles, seeking their seventh I-AA title, rolled up 456 yards -- 416 yards on the ground. Maine was held to 261 yards -- 113 yards by tailback Marcus Williams.
After Walden gave Georgia Southern a 7-0 lead with a 23-yard touchdown run around left end with 4:28 left in the first quarter, Maine responded by driving 72 yards in 10 plays to tie it 7-7 on Meczywor's 34-yard TD pass to McMahan. Walden had runs of 8, 10 and 17 yards in a 78-yard, nine-play drive capped by Austin's TD run for a 14-7 Georgia Southern lead with 1:03 left in the second quarter. Scott Shelton's 36-yard field goal put the Eagles up 17-7 with 3:54 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles got a big break early in the fourth quarter when Maine's Maurice Garlic fumbled Shelton's punt. The ball was recovered by Georgia Southern's De Robinson at the Maine 45, and nine plays later, Williams dove in from 2 yards out for a 24-7 lead with 9:54 remaining.
"That was a big momentum change for us," Williams said. "We wanted to put a dagger in their hearts, right there."
Williams, on a keeper, scampered 52 yards to set up his own 5-yard TD run with 4:03 to play.
Georgia Southern, improved to 38-7 all-time in Division I-AA post-season play, the winningest mark in I-AA history. The Eagles, who lost two of their first three games with a new coach and many
new players, have won their last 10 games.
"This is sweet," Sewak said. "It's really been fun to see this team grow."
GAME NOTES
With two rushing touchdowns, Chaz Williams extended an NCAA I-AA single-season mark for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 26 ...
Chaz Williams extended his NCAA record for consecutive 100-yard games by a quarterback with ten by rushing for 106 yards ...
Georgia Southern placed two rushers over 100 yards for the ninth time this season. Chaz Williams finished with 106 yards, while Jermaine Austin recorded 140 yards. GSU has had two rushers over 100 yards in games against Gardner-Webb, Chattanooga, VMI, Western Carolina, Appalachian State, Furman, Jacksonville State, and
Bethune-Cookman and Maine.
With its win, Georgia Southern extended its home quarterfinal record to a perfect 9-0 (10-4 overall) ...
As a reminder, new NCAA guidelines for football records now state that beginning in 2002, all regular season and post-season game count in compilation of single-season and career records.
This new guideline is not retroactive past this season.
GAME QUOTES
Georgia Southern Head Coach Mike Sewak:
"First, let me say that that is a very good football team that we just beat. Their defense is outstanding and (Stephen) Cooper deserves every
accolade he receives.
"I thought our guys did a good job of blocking and moving their feet today. We really picked up the tempo after the first couple of drives and looked sharp.
"I thought our defensive coaches did a great job at getting us ready for their movement on all of their shifts. Our safeties and linebackers did a great job of adjusting. As I said before, Maine is a very good football team and they made us work for this win today.
"I told the guys in the locker room after the game that it didn't matter where we played or who we played against, we were going to be facing a very good team. Obviously, Western Kentucky is a
great team and is going to pose a huge challenge for us. We are going to have to focus in practice this week, which will be tough with us having finals. Still, our guys are going to have to be ready."
Box Score (Final)
Maine vs Georgia Southern (Dec 07, 2002 at Statesboro, Ga.)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
Maine............... 7 0 0 0 - 7 Record: (11-3)
Georgia Southern.... 7 7 3 14 - 31 Record: (11-2)
Scoring Summary:
1st 04:28 GSU - Zzream Walden 23 yd run (Scott Shelton kick), 5 plays, 71
yards, TOP 2:17
00:00 MAINE - Kevin McMahan 34 yd pass from Jon Meczywor (Mike Mellow
kick), 10 plays, 72 yards, TOP 4:28
2nd 01:03 GSU - Jermaine Austin 7 yd run (Scott Shelton kick), 9 plays, 78
yards, TOP 3:21
3rd 03:54 GSU - Scott Shelton 36 yd field goal, 10 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:54
4th 09:54 GSU - Chaz Williams 2 yd run (Scott Shelton kick), 9 plays, 45
yards, TOP 4:15
04:03 GSU - Chaz Williams 5 yd run (Scott Shelton kick), 7 plays, 72
yards, TOP 3:24
MAINE GSU
FIRST DOWNS................... 18 22
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 40-162 63-416
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 99 40
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 22-8-1 3-1-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 62-261 66-456
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-0 2-2
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 6-95 1-10
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-0 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 5-39.8 4-29.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 4-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards............... 6-35 8-56
Possession Time............... 29:23 30:37
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 2-5
RUSHING: Maine-Marcus Williams 23-113; Onyi Momah 7-36; Jon Meczywor 8-9;
John Gelsomino 1-4; Chris Legree 1-0. Georgia Southern-Jermaine Austin
27-143; Chaz Williams 20-106; Zzream Walden 7-82; Mark Myers 8-73; Kevin
Davis 1-12.
PASSING: Maine-Jon Meczywor 8-22-1-99. Georgia Southern-Chaz Williams
1-3-1-40.
RECEIVING: Maine-C. Pereira 4-38; John Gelsomino 2-24; Kevin McMahan 1-34;
Ryan Waller 1-3. Georgia Southern-Derrick Owens 1-40.
INTERCEPTIONS: Maine-Brandon McGowan 1-0. Georgia Southern-Aaron Whitaker 1-0.
SACKS (UA-A): Maine-None. Georgia Southern-Eric Hadley 1-0; F. Pesqueira 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Maine-Stephen Cooper 8-3; Rob Kierstead 6-2; Dave Cusano
5-2; Devon Goree 4-2; Brandon McGowan 3-3; Pat Pa'u 3-2; Joan Quezada 3-1;
D.Dottin-Carter 3-0; Marcus Walton 2-1; Brendan Curry 2-1; Amos Hall 2-1;
Jarrod Gomes 2-0; Maurice Garlic 2-0; Brian Mann 2-0; Dan Joslyn 1-1; D.
Arrington 1-0; Onyi Momah 1-0; Evign Dodge 0-1. Georgia Southern-David
Young 6-1; F. Pesqueira 2-5; Joe Scott 3-3; Michael Ward 3-3; James
Burchett 2-4; James Young 3-2; Eric Hadley 2-3; Dion Stokes 2-2; W.
Hardison 0-4; John Woodham 2-1; Derrick Butler 1-2; T.J. Rutledge 0-3;
DeShawn Jude 0-3; Aaron Whitaker 2-0; De Robinson 1-1; Eric White 1-1; Eric
McIntire 0-2; Kevin Davis 1-0; Victor Cabral 0-1; Carl Kearney 0-1.
Stadium: Allen E. Paulson
Attendance: 6708
Kickoff time: 1:07 pm
End of Game: 4:02 pm
Total elapsed time: 2:55
Officials: Referee: Stovall; Umpire: Meiman; Linesman: Beard; Line judge:
Dalton; Back judge: Francis; Field judge: McCollum;
Side judge: Doyle; Scorer: Schwartz;
Temperature: 50 F
Wind: E 4-6
Weather: clear