Fabian Truss rushed for a career-high 219 yards Saturday at Elon. (SamfordSports.com)ELON, N.C.—Samford junior running back Fabian Truss
rushed for a career-high 219 yards and two touchdowns to lead the
Bulldog football team to a 26-15 Southern Conference win at Elon
Saturday afternoon at Rhodes Stadium.
"This was a great win," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan
said. "Fabian did a wonderful job. We had chances to score more points
and we didn't, but when we needed to make a drive offensively we did.
Also, I can't say enough about the job our defense did."
With the win, Samford improves to 7-3 overall and 5-3 in Southern
Conference play. This marks the first time Samford has won seven games
in a season since 2003. The game was Samford's final SoCon game of the
season, and the Bulldogs finish with a winning league mark for the first
time since joining the SoCon in 2008. Elon drops to 3-7 overall and 1-6
in league play.
Truss ran for his career-high total on 34 carries, averaging 6.4 yards
per carry. Truss' performance brings his season total to a career-high
1,026 yards. The performance marks the first time a Samford running back
has rushed for more than 200 yards since Chris Evans rushed for 257
yards at Wofford on Nov. 14, 2009.
Samford quarterback Andy Summerlin completed 17-of-26 yards for 111 yards and one touchdown. Kelsey Pope caught five passes for 33 yards and a score.
Trey Wesley led Samford in tackles with nine, including four solo stops. Darion Sutton had six tackles and one fumble recovery. Durell Hill had an interception to go along with his four tackles.
Punter Greg Peranich averaged 39.5 yards on six punts. Cameron Yaw made two-of-four field goal attempts in the game.
For Elon, Thomas Wilson completed 23-of-42 passes for 227 yards, one
touchdown and one interception. Aaron Millette caught 10 passes for 100
yards and two touchdowns. Jonathan Spain led all tacklers with 20.
Samford jumped on top first when Yaw kicked a 38-yard field goal on the
Bulldogs' second drive of the game. Yaw's kick gave Samford a 3-0 lead
with 9:44 left in the first quarter. The score capped a seven-play,
28-yard drive that took 2:11 off the first-quarter clock.
On Elon's ensuing possession, Samford's Hill intercepted a Wilson pass,
giving the Bulldogs the ball at Elon's 30-yard line. The Bulldogs drove
to the one-yard line and Truss scored on a one-yard run with 5:31 left
in the first quarter. Yaw's extra points gave Samford a 10-0 lead.
Yaw kicked his second field goal of the game, this one from 42 yards out
with 9:23 left in the second quarter. The field goal gave the Bulldogs a
13-0 lead over the Phoenix.
Samford struck again late in the third quarter when Truss scored on a
75-yard run. Yaw added the extra point to push Samford's lead to 20-0
with 4:25 left in the third quarter.
Elon got on the scoreboard with a touchdown with 11:08 to go in the
fourth quarter. Wilson hit Millette for a four-yard score, and Adam
Scheiner added the extra point to cut the Samford lead to 20-7.
Samford put its final points on the scoreboard when Summerlin hit Pope
for a four-yard score with 4:08 left in the game. Yaw's PAT hit the
upright to make the score 26-7.
Elon added one final touchdown when backup quarterback Mike Quinn hit
Millette for an 18-yard score with 2:20 left in the contest. Quinn then
hit Chris Harris for the two-point conversion to make the final score
26-15.
Samford will wrap up the regular season with a game at Kentucky, on
Saturday, Nov. 17. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (CST) and the game
will be televised live on CSS.
From SamfordSports.com
