STATESBORO, Ga. | After battling the flu this past week and being limited in practice along with several teammates, South Alabama running back
La'Damian Webb led the way as the junior ran for a school record 247 yards and tied another single-game mark with four touchdowns Saturday evening in South's 38-31 victory over Georgia Southern at Allen E. Paulson Stadium.
Webb's 247 yards on the ground – 179 of which came over the final two quarters – on a school-record 35 carries surpassed Tra Minter's previous mark of 203 set during the 2018 season, while his four touchdowns matched Jalen Tolbert's standard set a year later. Webb averaged 7.1 yards per carry in the victory and sealed the win by running the ball 13 of South's final 16 plays before running out the clock.
Led by Webb, South Alabama (7-2, 4-1 SBC) rushed for 321 yards – tying for the seventh-best performance (vs. Georgia State, 10/18/14). It was also the most yards on the ground by a Jaguar offense since a 351-yard performance against Louisiana (11/16/19). The 514 yards of total offense by South was the third 500-yard performance this season.
South held a 37:04 – 22:56 advantage in time of possession, and held the ball for 19 minutes, 27 seconds over the final 30 minutes of the contest, including 11:10 in the fourth quarter.
After allowing 21 first-quarter points, the Jaguar defense held the Eagles (5-4, 2-3 SBC) to 10 points, 88 rushing yards, including four net yards rushing over the final three quarters. Five of South's six tackles for loss came after halftime.
CJ Rias was credited with a team-hit 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack to led the way.
Jalen Jordan registered 10 total tackles – eight solo – while
James Miller and
Trey Kiser finished with seven and six tackles, respectively.
Postgame Notes
• Captains: (5)
Trey Kiser – LB, (36)
Diego Guajardo – PK, (68)
James Jackson (OL)
• Attendance: 17,084
• Start Time: 4:02 pm (ET) | Time of Game: 3:39
• Saturday marked the ninth all-time meeting in the series and the fifth in Statesboro versus the Eagles
• It was the program's first-ever win versus Georgia Southern on the Eagles' home field
• The interception returned for touchdown by GS's Khadry Jackson was the first returned for a score by an opponent since App State's Trey Cobb (11/13/21)
• With his first-quarter touchdown reception,
Jalen Wayne moved into a tie with Gerald Everett (2015-16) for fifth in career touchdown receptions as he now has 12 for his career. He also moved into a tie with Demetre Baker (2011-12) for 10th all-time in career scores.
• The touchdown reception was also his seventh of the fall, tying Wayne for seventh most in a single season with Jeremé Jones (2012)
• The TD reception also extended streak of games with a catch to 24, tying Everett for fourth-longest stretch in program history. In the second quarter,
Caullin Lacy extended his streak to 21 consecutive games with a catch
•
Todd Justice had a 30-yard run on a successful fake punt conversion to keep the Jags' drive alive, which eventually was capped off by Webb's 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter
• South Alabama last converted a fake punt last season vs. Louisiana (10/2/21) when
Keith Gallmon Jr. had a 38-yard conversion
• The Webb touchdown was his 11th of the season and the 10th on the ground, which moved him into a tie with Xavier Johnson (2016) for fourth on the list and into a tie with three other players, including Johnson for second on the single-season rushing TD list. He later moved into second by himself on the single-season rushing TD list with his five-yard, third-quarter score
• With his 28-yard catch in the second period of play, Lacy became the 13th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-yard receiving mark for his career
• Guajardo's 29-yard field goal moved the junior placekicker into second all-time on South's career scoring list as he now has 208 points, passing Gavin Patterson (204 – 2015-18)
• The Eagles looked to extend their lead to double digits just before the half as Michael Lantz attempted a 52-yard field goal, but defensive lineman
Charles Coleman III blocked the attempt and the Jags recovered
• The blocked kick was Coleman's first of his career and the first since Chris Henderson did so against Alcorn State (9/18) last fall
• The blocked kick marked the first time since the 2019 season that South has recorded multiple blocked kicks on special teams, and was the first time since the 2018 campaign in which the unit has done so in back-to-back games – at Memphis (9/22) and vs. Texas State (9/15) that season
•
Yam Banks' third-quarter interception in the end zone was his fifth of the season, tying him with Zac Brownell's (2009) single-season mark
• Banks is now tied for fourth on the on the career chart as well
• Rias' sack of GS quarterback Kyle Vantrease marked just the third allowed by the Eagle offensive line this season
• Webb recorded his second-straight game with 100-plus yards and his fourth of the season
• With his four rushing touchdowns, Webb has now had seven scores in his last two games and scored multiple touchdowns in four games this season
• Webb became the first player in program history to have two games of three or more rushing touchdowns and just the second to do so in the same season – Kawaan Baker (2018 – vs. Louisiana Tech [9/1] and at Louisiana [11/17]). He's the first to do so in back-to-back outings
• The four games with two or more touchdowns in a season for Webb are now one shy of Brandon Ross' program standard of five established during the inaugural season
• The 14 total touchdowns by Webb this season also set a new single-season record passing Baker (2018) and Brandon Ross's (2009) who had 13 each
• The 13 rushing touchdowns this fall by Webb also tied Ross' single-season mark set in 2009
• Webb also passed Minter (12 – 2017-19) and Baker (12 – 2011-12) for fourth all-time in career rushing touchdowns and moved into a tie for eighth all-time with Minter (14) and Shavarez Smith (14 – 2013-14) in total touchdowns
• The 227 rushing yards by Webb are a new school record surpassing Minter's previous mark of 203 set against Coastal Carolina (11/23/18)
• Webb now has 896 rushing yards this season, which moved him from ninth on the single-season list to third as he now only trails Johnson (956 – 2nd – 2015) and Minter (1,057 – 1st – 2019)
• Webb is the first running back to have four rushing TDs in a game and the four scores tie Tolbert's single-game mark recorded against Arkansas State (11/29/19)
• Bradley's seven victories under center are most by a Jaguar quarterback in a season
• The seven wins – second-most in a season in program history – are the most since 2009, the first for the program
• The seven wins are most since transitioning to Division I
• The defense held an opponent below 100 yards rushing for the sixth time this fall
Gallery: (11-5-2022) Football at Georgia Southern
How It Happened
First Quarter
• 0-7 (14:09) – GS – Jackson 43-yard interception returned for a touchdown
• 0-14 (9:20) – GS – Jalen White 54-yard touchdown run (4 plays, 78 yards, 1:25)
• 7-14 (6:56) – USA – Bradley 10-yard touchdown pass to Wayne (6 plays, 75 yards, 2:24)
• 7-21 (3:24) – GS – Vantrease 16-yard touchdown pass to Derwin Burgess Jr. (9 plays, 75 yards, 3:32)
Second Quarter
• 14-21 (14:56) – USA – Webb 1-yard touchdown run (9 plays, 75 yards, 3:28)
• 14-24 (10:17) – GS – Alex Raynor 22-yard field goal (12 plays, 65 yards, 4:39)
• 17-24 (3:23) – USA – Guajardo 29-yard field goal (10 plays, 73 yards, 3:25)
Third Quarter
• 17-31 (8:45) – GS – Vantrease touchdown pass to Jjay McAfee (11 plays, 88 yards, 3:08)
• 24-31 (3:00) – USA – Webb 5-yard rushing touchdown (13 plays, 75 yards, 5:45)
Fourth Quarter
• 31-31 (11:46) – USA – Webb 5-yard touchdown run (10 plays, 83 yards, 4:29)
• 38-31 (5:50) – USA – Webb 9-yard rushing touchdown run (7 plays, 78 yards, 3:39)
Up Next
South Alabama will return home to host Texas State, Saturday at 4 p.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
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