STATESBORO, Ga. – Shai Werts and Wesley Fields each ran for two scores as Georgia Southern posted 295 yards on the ground in earning a 48-13 Sun Belt Conference football victory over the University of South Alabama Saturday at Allen E. Paulson Stadium.

Werts carried 10 times for 85 yards, tacking on another touchdown through the air — he was 5-of-8 passing for an additional 99 yards — to help the Eagles improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the league.  Fields recorded 81 on yards on 13 attempts while Monteo Garrett rushed for a game-high 91 yards as GS averaged just under seven yards per carry.

Evan Orth was 19-of-30 passing for 197 yards for the Jaguars, who fell to 1-5 on the year and 1-2 in the Sun Belt, with Kawaan Baker leading the team with 79 yards on three receptions.  Malcolm Buggs and Bull Barge were credited with eight stops apiece to pace South's defense.

Georgia Southern 48, South Alabama 13 (final stats)
South Alabama/Georgia Southern photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-The Eagles' used a 30-yard interception return from Monquavion Brinson to set up a two-play, five-yard touchdown drive for the only score in the opening quarter.
-Gavin Patterson connected on a pair of field-goal attempts — from 40 and 28 yards out — in the final seven minutes of the second quarter as South trailed 17-6 at the break.
-After being limited to 63 yards of total offense in the opening quarter, the Jaguars nearly doubled that total with 124 in the second period.
-GS scored 10 points to extend its lead to 27-6 at the end of three quarters, outgaining the Jags 133-56 in the period.
-The Eagles would score on six consecutive possessions after adding 14 points in the first half of the final quarter.
-USA limited the Eagles to 85 yards on 20 carries in the opening half but surrendered more than 200 yards on the ground after the intermission.

NOTES
-The Eagles have now claimed all five meetings in the series.
-It's the second straight year that the Jaguars have fallen in Statesboro.
-South was 7-of-16 on third-down conversions in the contest while limiting GS to just 2-of-8 in such situations.
-The Jags ran 70 plays — 19 more than the Eagles — while winning the time of possession battle for the second straight week.
-After making two fields goals in the Jaguars' first five contests this fall, Patterson connected both of his tries in the second quarter to account for South's scoring in the opening half.
-Baker has now led the team in receiving yards in back-to-back outings, while it was the second game in a row that the sophomore has recorded a career-high total after ending the day with 124 all-purpose yards.
-Not only was the tackle total the most in Buggs' career, he added his first pass defensed of the season.
-It's the second time this fall that Barge has shared the team lead in stops.
-Deonta Moore posted season highs in yards rushing (33), receptions (a team-high four), yards receiving (30) and all-purpose yards (63), with the last three career-best figures as well.
-Khalil McDonald and Tyree Vines accounted for USA's two stops behind the line of scrimmage, with the latter credited with the first of his career.
-Senior WR Malik Stanley made his season debut in the game, finishing with three catches for 48 yards.
-Minter paced the Jags with 38 yards rushing on a career-high-tying 16 carries, the fourth outing in a row he has led the team on the ground.
-The Eagles limited Jamarius Way — the league leader in both receptions and receiving yards per game entering play — to only one catch for four yards.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
Opening statement: "We have some things we have to work through.  We had some chances early, but again self-inflicted wounds — multiple turnovers and penalties — put us in bad positions.  When you play a good football team on the road, this team [Georgia Southern] is 4-1 now, it can snowball on you and it got away from us a little bit.  I thought the guys played hard, but we hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers.  We played some young guys and that's not an excuse anymore, but that's where we are at.  When we eliminate those mistakes we'll have a chance to be pretty good, we're going to keep working at it until we get it." 
On the difference in the game: "The first half I think was a well-fought half; in the second half Georgia Southern found some things with the option on the perimeter and we had a hard time getting there, but our defense battled. Offensively, we had some things but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot."

Sophomore WR Kawaan Baker
On the mood in the locker room: "There are a lot of people disappointed in our locker room."
On putting this loss aside: "We need to start off with the next game, go forward from there and finish off the season better than we've started."

Senior LB Bull Barge
On the mood of the locker room following the game: "This was a tough loss for us.  We felt like we started the game pretty well. Coming out of halftime we had a chance, but there were a few things that didn't go our way and that just put us in some worse situations than we needed to be in.  We have guys in the locker room that are hurting; we want to win.  We have to look at ourselves and realize that there are still goals out there that we want to reach.  We have to turn things around now.  Right now, we are at one of our lowest points, but I feel like we are going to climb out of it.  We have leaders in our locker room and good coaches.  We know that we put ourselves behind the ball and that we've started off slow in games, but at the same time, we know that we are capable of being a good team.  It's just about going back to work and getting better than we were today."
On making the others see that there still are obtainable goals: "I tell each one of them every day that this is my last season.  It's either you're all in or you're not with us.  In that locker room we are really figuring out who is all in.  We are going to take the people who are all in and do what we are supposed to and try to win this conference."
On the defensive plan going in: "I felt going in we had a great plan defensively against Georgia Southern.  We started off well and had a few situations that got us down, but at the end of the day if we had made the plays that we were supposed to have made we would have given ourselves a better chance to win."

Up next: South Alabama will plays its first home game in almost a month Saturday when Alabama State comes Ladd-Peebles Stadium, with kickoff slated for 4 p.m. (CDT).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—