MOBILE, Ala. – Both Tra Minter and Jamarius Way set school game records as part of an effort in which the University of South Alabama football team's offense racked up 533 total yards to help the Jaguars to a 31-28 Sun Belt Conference football Senior Day win Friday over Coastal Carolina at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Minter ran for 203 yards on 24 carries — with 115 of those coming after halftime — while Way caught three touchdown passes to help South end the season 3-9 overall and 2-6 in the league.  Nick Mobley recorded a team-high seven stops, with upperclassmen Bull Barge, Tyree Turner and Sean Grayer combining for four tackles for loss; the trio and Nigel Lawrence all had four or more total stops in the contest.

Kilton Anderson was 20-of-32 passing for 262 yards with a score for the Chanticleers (5-7, 2-6 Sun Belt), with Malcolm Williams catching seven balls for 109 yards and a touchdown.  Three CCU defenders — Teddy Gallagher, Alex Spillum and Fitz Wattley — were credited with 10-plus tackles for the Chants' defense.

South Alabama 31, Coastal Carolina 28 (final stats)
South Alabama/Coastal Carolina photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-The Jaguars scored 10 points in less than two minutes with the aid of a takeaway, ending the first quarter with a 189-50 advantage in total offense
-South rolled up 373 yards in the opening half, adding a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 24-7 lead to the locker room.
-Way's third touchdown catch answered a nine-play, 71-yard Coastal scoring drive as the Jags were still ahead by 17 heading to the final period.
-The Chanticleers scored less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, but were unable to reach the end zone again until just 34 seconds remained in the game.
-USA was plus-two in turnover margin in the contest, with the Jaguar defense matching a season high with three takeaways.
-The Jag defense made eight stops behind the line of scrimmage, with half of those sacks, to limit CCU to just 92 yards rushing.

NOTES
-This was the first meeting between the two schools.
-The Jaguars have won on Senior Day each of the last three years and now have a 6-4 record in their home finale.
-It was the first time South has posted over 500 yards of total offense since finishing with 549 in a defeat of ULM on Oct. 21 last fall.
-The Jag defense limited the opposition to under 100 yards on the ground in a Sun Belt game for the first time since accomplishing the feat in the 2017 regular-season finale at New Mexico State.
-With his six-yard scoring run at the end of the first half, Kawaan Baker tied the school season mark of 13 total touchdowns first set by Brandon Ross in 2009.
-It was Way's first game with multiple scores, with his second of the contest making him the fifth player with 10 or more touchdown catches in a career at South.
-Not only did the senior set the school game record with three touchdowns receptions, he became just the third individual at USA to surpass 1,500 receiving yards in a career.
-Minter didn't just set a school game record for rushing yards, it was the first 100-yard effort of his career.
-Barge moved into the top five all-time at South with 246 stops in his four years as a Jaguar, passing Jake Johnson on the list.
-Turner ended the year with a career-high 51 total tackles and a team-leading 10 stops for loss; he is just outside the top five on South career record charts in the latter category with 22 since the start of the 2015 season.
-Senior CB Darian Mills had both an interception and two others passes broken up, and with the effort he passed current Washington Redskin Jeremy Reaves to set the school's all-time record with 23 passes defensed.
-When Gavin Patterson hit a 32-yard field to open the scoring he became the second individual in program history to score 200 points in a career.
-Deonta Moore also set a career high after finishing with 72 yards on nine carries.
-On his first play since departing the Arkansas State game on Nov. 3 due to injury, Evan Orth threw a 73-yard touchdown — his 11th of the year — to Way that moved the quarterback into a tie for fifth on the school season record list.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
Opening statement: "I was glad our seniors could go out with a win in their last game at Ladd; those guys really stepped up and played big in a big way.  Jamarius had a big game. I thought Bull played really well. Evan and Cole [Garvin] both played well and did a lot of good things.  That senior class has been instrumental in a lot of the good things that have happened to South Alabama.  They were the group that helped usher in our new indoor [practice] facility and the group that is helping the new stadium get built on campus.  I was glad that crew was able to get a last 'W' in their last game."
On the running game's effectiveness tonight: "This the second week in a row that we've been able run the ball for over 200 yards.  Coming into the season, the offensive line was one of the things that was most often asked about.  Today, we rushed for 331 yards and didn't give up any sacks for the second straight week.  That's an area we definitely got better as the season went on and that group has definitely jelled the past two weeks.  Every one of those guys are coming back next season.  I thought Tra did a great job of running the ball. Deonta also had some great runs. We had some explosive plays in both the running and passing games, which was huge for us."
On the game plan coming in being to run the ball: "We had started running the ball a little bit better over the past two weeks and we knew that was one of the areas that they [Coastal Carolina] weren't that strong.  We definitely wanted to come in and run the ball and use play-action.  The games we've been able to run the ball and use play-action to hit the big plays to our wide receivers were the ones we've had the most success.  After the Louisiana-Monroe game, we looked and saw that we really didn't have a personality offensively.  We were running a little of this and a little of that; we really hadn't established a personality.  Before last week, we said we were going to run the football, be a play-action team and try to create some explosive plays with some man-to-man coverages.  We were able to do that.  We had two one-play drives in the first half and when you run the ball a lot, you can get those type of drives.  We didn't do it in the second half, because we had the lead and Coastal also held the ball a lot in the second half."
On what this win can do for the young players returning as they head into the offseason: "I think it's big for those guys. There are areas like the offensive line, where they see we are getting better.  Zac [Crosby] and Kham[eron Taylor] have blocked really well. KB [Kawaan Baker] played well last week and this week.  It's good for them to have some success and see some good things.  We were going to have a great offseason regardless of how tonight's game turned out, but it does put a better taste in your mouth heading into the offseason.  We're on a one-game win streak right now, so we need to keep building on that."

Senior LB Bull Barge
On ending his career with a win: "It makes it that much more special, to end with a win on this field; that's what you work hard for — to go out on top at your own place.  It just feels good knowing you're going out on top after a long season."
On CCU's second-half run: "They started doing a lot of quick things on the perimeter.  They knew the linebackers were playing off the backs and receivers, so if they had everyone flowing in one direction then we would flow that way too.  They began to run the quarterback draw knowing the linebackers were getting out of the box.  We settled in; they [CCU] made a late push and it was a good little run, but we settled back in and started playing our regular base defense and pulled it off."

Senior CB Darian Mills
On ending his career with a win: "I think this gave a big push for those guys next year.  We didn't have the season we wanted to have, but we kept fighting.  Getting this win tonight was very crucial for next season."
On the defensive takeways: "It was big for the team, and getting this win tonight. Getting those turnovers tonight was big for the defense and the team as a whole."

Junior RB Tra Minter
On what the win does entering the offseason: "It definitely gave us a spark.  All we wanted to do was send these seniors out with a bang and give them something to look back on.  For next year, it just gave us a spark and some confidence for next season."
On his school-record performance: "Personally, I don't get too caught up in statistics, but it's great to have accomplishments like that.  It's amazing to be able to go out and perform at that level.  I think I left a lot on the field.  I just go out there and ball for my team, and put it all on the line."

Senior WR Jamarius Way
On ending his career with a win: "It was a big boost to show our brotherhood for each other.  We came out and still fought, even though the record wasn't what we wanted it to be."
On his school-record performance: "It's a blessing.  Coming into the game, I wanted to go out the right way and send my seniors out the right way also.  I just wanted to send everybody out the right way, and that's what I did."

Coastal Carolina head coach Joe Moglia
On tonight's loss: "I told our team at halftime we are going to get the ball to start and that we need to move the ball down the field, we need to score, and we need to stop them.  From there anything can happen.  We are going to need to be able to make a couple of plays, and prevent them from making a couple of plays.  If we do that, we are going to be in a dog fight right at the end.  If we don't do that it's not going to be a game.  The only thing I ask is that, under no circumstance do they finish the game not giving everything they possibly got.  Don't ever give up.  Represent Coastal Carolina, represent your teammates, represent your families and you finish this game with everything you have.  I felt that was exactly what our guys did, so I feel good from that perspective."
On the offensive production lacking over the last four weeks: "I've already put together cut-ups of plays that happened over that span of the season that I want to take a look at.  I think now that the season is over, for us what we have to do is to be able to take a look at why that happened and why we did struggle?  Was it something we could have fixed that we didn't, or what was the problem?  Right now, we have to make sure we understand why we had whatever problem we had, and that we're ready to go heading into spring ball. "

Up next: This was the Jags' final game of the 2018 campaign.

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