STATESBORO, Ga. – Wesley Kennedy III scored twice in the final period to help rally Georgia Southern to a 24-17 Sun Belt Conference football victory over the University of South Alabama Thursday at Allen E. Paulson Stadium.

Kennedy scored on runs of 14 and 15 yards, with the second coming with just over eight minutes left to play, on the way to finishing with 90 yards, with Shai Werts adding 91 yards and J.D. King posting 74 as well for the Eagles (4-2, 2-2 Sun Belt).

Keith Gallmon paced all players with nine total stops, adding a forced fumble and an interception to lead the Jaguars (3-3, 2-1 SBC), who also got eight stops from Riley Cole and six from Christian Bell.

Desmond Trotter was 20-of-287 passing for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns for South, with Jalen Tolbert catching six passes for 38 yards and Kawaan Baker adding five receptions for another 65.  Carlos Davis supplied 70 yards on 20 carries also for the Jag offense.

Georgia Southern 24, South Alabama 17 (final stats)
South Alabama/Georgia Southern photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-Diego Guajardo supplied the only points of the opening quarter with a 54-yard field goal to cap the Jaguars' first possession of the night.
-After the Eagles responded with 10 straight points midway through the second period, Trotter led South on an eight-play, 70-yard march to tie the score 10-10 at the break.
-USA moved back in front at the end of three quarters when Trotter connected with Tolbert for a 12-yard touchdown in the final two minutes of the period.
-Kennedy tied the game with just under 13 minutes to go to cap a 75-yard march, while the Eagles' game-winning drive covered 47 yards in five plays.
-The Eagles ran for 250 yards as a team while posting 345 yards of total offense.
-South finished with 264 total yards after GS's defense was credited with five sacks, including three in the final quarter.

NOTES
-The Eagles have claimed each match-up with the Jaguars in the all-time series.
-It's the second straight season that the two programs have played a game decided by one score.
-Guajardo's field goal in the first quarter was the longest in school history, surpassing the previous mark set by Michel Chapuseaux against Troy on Sept. 29, 2012, by a yard.
-Brandon Crum recorded his first career touchdown catch to tie the contest with just under three minutes to go in the opening half.
-It was the first time this season that Trotter has thrown for multiple scores in consecutive contests.
-Gallmon's forced fumble in the first quarter was his first since recording one against the Eagles in last year's match-up in Mobile on Oct. 3.
-The junior's interception, which came in the third period, was his first since picking off a pass last season on Sept. 14 against Memphis.
-With his touchdown catch in the third quarter — the 11th of his career — Tolbert moved into the top five on the school's all-time list in the category.
-Baker moved past the duo of Jamarius Way and Jeremé Jones into second place on the school's all-time receiving yards list after ending the contest with 1,678 in his career.
-It was the fourth straight outing that Cole has made at least one stop for loss, matching a streak he recorded from Oct. 26-Nov. 23 last year.
-Entering play the duo of Bell and Quentin Wilfawn had posted two tackles apiece in South's first five games; both finished the night with career highs in the category after the latter added four.
-Gi'Narious Johnson made his first stop behind the line of scrimmage since the Jags' season-opening victory at Southern Miss on Sept. 3, while Devin Rockette supplied the first of his career in the fourth quarter.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
Opening statement: "I'm very disappointed, I told the guys just how disappointed I was for them because I know how hard they fought.  We still control our own destiny, there are five teams in our half of the league and we've already beaten two of them; everybody in our half has at least one loss.  What we have to do is get back and have a great week, heal and go get a win against a very good Coastal Carolina football team.  With a couple of plays here and there we beat this team on the road today, we have to make up a couple of plays between now and next Saturday.  That comes with preparation, getting a couple of guys healthy and just making a few more plays."
On missing opportunities: "The ball was on the ground a couple of times and we weren't able to get to it, we had the interception and wound up turning it back over to them.  We were a play away, but we have to get to a point where we make those plays so we can go on the road and beat a good football team."
On the program making progress on the road against the Eagles: "We're to a point now where we need to beat these guys.  We need to finish to get the 'W.'."

Junior S Keith Gallmon
On the game: "We knew it was going to be a game that came down to the fourth quarter.  We were able to compete the whole game, we just weren't able to pull it out in the end.  We gave up a big play right before the start of the fourth quarter, which put them in position to score.  We can't do that defensively.  We'll get back to work and get ready for next week."
On moving on from this game: "We're just ready to get back out there and play again.  The sooner we get back to work, the sooner we can put this game behind us."
On Georgia Southern's offense down the stretch: "Georgia Southern was just able to get out on a couple of big plays and we missed tackles, especially on the play the scored on to retake the lead.  That's simple to fix and something we'll work on this week.  We just can't have that happen."

Sophomore QB Desmond Trotter
On the mood in the locker room after the game: "Of course we're disappointed and feel like we should have won this game.  I missed a few plays where I had KB [Kawaan Baker] on a corner route.  [Jalen] Tolbert makes that catch 1,000 times and I told him to keep his head up.  The defense came out and did what they needed to do.  I told them to just stop them a couple of times and when we get up, keep stopping them because their offense holds the ball a lot.  We needed to take advantage of all the opportunities they gave us and we weren't able to."
On what Georgia Southern was doing defensively to get pressure: "They were sending more guys that we were able to block.  We expected them to send pressure because they are a real physical team.  The corners played tough on our receivers.  As a quarterback though, you just have to stay in there, stay tough and get the ball out of your hand."
On moving on from this loss: "We just have to let this game go.  Coastal Carolina's a good team with a 5-0 record and sitting at the top of the standings.  We're trying to get to where they are; we just have to let this one go and build on our momentum.  We didn't play a bad game, but we didn't come out with the win.  Everybody needs to keep believing that we can win and keep playing like this."

Up next: The Jaguars will next visit Coastal Carolina — which enters the weekend ranked 20th in the Associate Press poll — at 7 p.m. (CST) on Saturday, Nov. 7, with the game set to be broadcast across the country on ESPNU.

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

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