BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Diego Guajardo hit the last of his three field goals Saturday as time expired to help lift the University of South Alabama to a 22-19 non-conference football win over Bowling Green at Doyt Perry Stadium.

The conversion from 44 yards out capped a rally that saw the Jaguars (2-0) score 10 points in the final 99 seconds to earn the victory.  Terrion Avery had tied the contest with a 13-yard touchdown run on South's previous possession.

Jake Bentley completed 29-of-46 attempts for 257 yards while Avery paced the Jag rushing attack with 82 yards on 20 carries.  Yam Banks topped USA with six stops, with Chris Henderson and Tré Young contributing five tackles apiece.

Matt McDonald threw for 308 yards and a touchdown while connecting on 23-of-32 passes for the Falcons (0-2), hitting both Christian Sims and Tyrone Broden for 76 yards each.  Davon Ferguson led all players with 11 tackles as well.

South Alabama 22, Bowling Green 19 (final stats)
South Alabama/Bowling Green photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-Bowling Green got scores from both its special teams and defensive units on a safety and a 27-yard Daren Anders interception return for a touchdown to go ahead 8-0 at the end of the first quarter.
-Guajardo kicked a pair of field goals — from 22 and 41 yards out — to cut the Jaguars' deficit to two points at the half.
-The Falcons responded to Kareem Walker's one-yard touchdown run with a 33-yard scoring pass from McDonald to Andrew Bench to take a 19-12 edge to the final period.
-After Avery tied the score, Shawn Jennings forced a third-down fumble that was recovered by Quentin Wilfawn to give the Jags the ball at the BGSU-33.
-USA gave up only 317 total yards, including just 73 in the opening half.

NOTES
-This was the first meeting between the two schools since facing each other at the 2014 Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, the Jaguars' first-ever postseason contest.
-In recognition of 9/11, South helmet decals this afternoon included the names of all 2,983 people who were killed in the attacks.
-The Jags are now 3-2 all-time against Mid-American Conference schools, with all three wins coming in the state of Ohio.
-This marked the first time the Jaguars have won in the final minute of regulation since Gavin Patterson hit a field goal with two seconds to go in an Oct. 29, 2016, victory over Georgia State, although the last time USA won on the last play of a game came on Oct. 20, 2012, when Michel Chapuseaux connected on a 35-yard field goal in double overtime.
-With multiple takeaways — Keith Gallmon Jr. intercepted a pass in the final seconds of the third quarter — in each of their first two games, it's the first time the Jaguars have forced the opposition into more than one turnover in consecutive contests since turning the trick three straight weeks from Nov. 7-21 last fall.
-It was the fourth time since the start of the 2020 season that Guajardo has converted multiple field goals as he ended the night tying his previous high set in a victory over Texas State last fall.
-Avery's touchdown run to tie the game was his first since scoring in last year's Sept. 3 win at Southern Mississippi.
-Banks posted five of his six stops in the opening half on the way to recording a career high in the category for the second straight outing.
-CJ Rias became the first Jaguar defender to post two sacks in a game since a win over Coastal Carolina on Nov. 23, 2018.
-It was second week in a row that Walker has reached the end zone after catching a touchdown pass in the Jags' victory over Southern Miss last Saturday.
-Henderson also finished with a career-best tackle total.
-It's the second time in as many games that Caullin Lacy has finished with a career-high catch total after leading the Jaguars with eight receptions for 63 yards
-Jalen Tolbert has now topped USA in receiving yards in six straight outings after recording 95 on seven catches.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack
On getting the win despite not playing well: "We certainly didn't play to our standard, but I'll be honest with you, I'm more pleased with a game like this than where we were a week ago with Southern Miss. I've been in this program before and the opportunities that we've had after a 'decisive win', we have not found ways to win consistently in those situations. This is the first time those guys in the locker room are getting on a plane after a win in seven years. That's a tremendous opportunity that we created for ourselves. Sure, it was ugly and I would have liked to have walked into the fourth quarter with a comfortable lead, but this young team needs these opportunities to build a program the right way. That's exactly what we did today. We took a step in the right direction and I'm thrilled for that."
On making plays when the team needed to: "First and foremost, it was very smart football. We used our analytics. We've talked about the fact that we're going to be an analytics-driven team and use those to win football games. It was smart football right before the half where we called defensive timeouts. We were able to get our offense back on the field and a field goal right before the half. We did the exact same thing when we scored towards the end of the game. We ran the ball on third down when they [Bowling Green] were expecting us to pass because we knew we were going for it on fourth down [if we didn't get the first down] in that situation. We scored a touchdown and after the kickoff used two of our defensive timeouts and got our offense the ball back. Our defense played so hard in the second half and was able to create the takeaway. I can't tell you how excite I am for this team."

Junior RB Terrion Avery
On stepping up at the end of the game: "I was able to press the whole better and read things better. It just all came together at the right time."
On what a win like this says about this team: "A win like this one just shows how tough our team is. It also showed us that when Murphy['s Law] comes, if we keep a neutral mindset, we'll be okay."

Sophomore PK Diego Guajardo
On the game-winning kick: "I just treated it like another kick. I didn't think of anything and kept everything the same. I just did my job. I've done that kick a 1,000 times [in practice] and I didn't mind doing it 1,001. This was a great team win. Without the offense and the defense making plays, we wouldn't have won."
On the mood in the locker room after the game: "It was the greatest feeling every. That was my first game-wining field goal and it was the greatest feeling every. I like to mentally prepare myself for those types of situations, and thank God it finally came, because it was exactly like I dreamt it."

Senior ILB Shawn Jenninngs
On forcing the turnover on Bowling Green's last drive: "We needed a stop at the end of the game and I just locked in. I wrapped up and came in with the punch to knock the ball out. The rest is history."
On what getting a win like this means to the program: "We knew Murphy['s Law] was going to hit today and that there was going to be some adversity. We just had to keep fighting and at the end of the day made sure everyone stayed locked in with no negative energy on the sideline. We kept the positivity and kept playing."

Up next: South comes home and will play host to Alcorn State Saturday at 7 p.m. (CDT) in its final game prior to the start of Sun Belt Conference play.

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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