The Georgia Southern Eagles outscored Maine 28-3 in the second half on Saturday night to pull away for a 45-17 non-conference football victory at Allen E. Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia.
In the second and final matchup of the season against an FBS opponent, the Black Bears stayed close for the first 40 or so minutes. Senior quarterback Carter Peevy put Maine ahead for the only time on the night with a 27-yard touchdown run on the first series of the opening quarter. The Eagles scored the next 17 points unanswered on a 3-yard TD run by OJ Arnold in the first, and then a 22-yard field goal by Tripp Bryant and another 3-yard TD run by Dalen Cobb in the second. Maine got a big play to get right back in the game near the end of that second period, when Devin Vaught intercepted GSU QB JC French IV and returned it 76 yards to the endzone to cut it to 17-14 at the halftime break.
Weston Bryan increased the Georgia Southern lead back to 10 early in the third quarter on a 1-yard scoring run, before Samuel Tremblay answered for Maine with a 33-yard field goal. It was all Eagles after that, as they would put up the final 21 points of the game. Cobb caught a 25-yard TD pass from French IV late in the third quarter, and Camden Brown also found paydirt on a 12-yard passing play from Arnold early in the fourth after Scott Woods muffed a punt and fumbled it away. Jamarian Samuel capped off the scoring with a 1-yard run with 8:50 left with the fourth rushing TD of the contest by Georgia Southern. The Black Bears are now 4-29 all-time vs schools from the FBS.
Peevy finished 13-22 passing for 88 yards in the Maine loss. He also rushed for 30 yards on four carries with a touchdown. The Black Bears after finding success running the ball at times in their first three games found it be tougher sledding in this one, rushing for a total of 109 yards as a team but on 30 attempts (3.6 average). Sincere Baines had 41 of those yards on seven carries. Rashawn Marshall led the receiving core with four catches for 25 yards. Christian Thomas had 10 total tackles (three solo), while Malcolm Folk had a fumble recovery and Vaught had four solo tackles to go along with his interception return to a TD. French IV passed for 253 yards (19 for 31) with one touchdown and one interception in the win for Georgia Southern. Arnold had 85 yards rushing and a touchdown, while also passing for one on the 12-yarder to Brown. Brown would reel in six catches for 118 yards and a score, as his team put up a total of 516 yards of offense. The Eagles, out of the Sun Belt Conference, improve to 2-2 on the season. Maine (0-4 overall) will take their 0-1 Coastal Athletic Association record into their home league opener next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Orono when they take on North Carolina A&T State University. This is the third time in the last four years that the Black Bears have started 0-4.
Photo- Maine quarterback Carter Peevy hands the ball off to running back Rashawn Marshall during a non-conference game vs Stonehill College in Orono on September 13. Courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
