SATURDAY'S SCORES
@#12 Maine 55,
#8 Jacksonville State 27
@#3 Weber State 48,
#20 Southeast Missouri 23
#12 MAINE 55, #8 JACKSONVILLE STATE 27
ORONO, Maine - Maine scored touchdowns on seven of its first nine possessions to defeat Jacksonville State 55-27 at Alfond Stadium Saturday afternoon in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
The Black Bears capitalized on two costly first-half turnovers by the Gamecocks (9-4) to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011.
Zerrick Cooper threw touchdown passes of 36 and 70 yards to Jamari Hester after Maine, the No. 7 national seed, jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead, but the Black Bears responded with three more scores in an 11:30-minute span to end the half to build a 28-point lead at intermission.
Jacksonville State's defense had few answers in the game's opening 30 minutes.
Quarterback Chris Ferguson threw four touchdown passes and the Black Bears finished off the first-half scoring with a 99-yard drive capped by a 24-yard TD run by Ramon Jefferson to build an insurmountable lead.
Jefferson finished with 186 yards on 26 carries and scored twice as the Black Bears pounded 268 yards on the ground.
Cooper finished his first season as a Gamecock with a 365-yard passing performance against the Black Bears. He also ran for a touchdown for 38 total (32 passing, six rushing) and accounted for a school-record 3,416 scrimmage yards in 2018.
Hester grabbed four passes for a game-high 125 yards. His two touchdown receptions moved him into a tie with Josh Barge (2015) for second-most touchdown catches in a single season with 11.
Josh Pearson, who entered the playoff matchup as the NCAA Division I leader with 17 touchdowns this year, was kept out of the end zone and limited to four catches for 62 yards. The junior wideout from Decatur fell 23 yards shy of eclipsing Barge's school record for receiving yards in a season (1,145 in 2015).
Cade Stinnett kicked field goals of 30 and 24 yards to give him 36 for his career, tying his father, Slade Stinnett, and Griffin Thomas for second place in the Gamecocks' record book.
Maine's defense, meanwhile, lived up to its billing as one of the premier units in FCS at stopping the run, limiting the Gamecocks to 87 yards on 32 carries.
Safeties Marlon Bridges and Traco Williams were Jacksonville State's leading tacklers with eight stops apiece. Senior defensive lineman Randy Robinson blocked Maine's final extra point try – his fifth this season – to establish a new JSU record. It was also the eighth of his career, another school record.
#3 WEBER STATE 48, #20 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 23
OGDEN, Utah - #2 Weber State (10-2) scored 34-straight points after falling behind early in the game to eliminate #20 Southeast Missouri (9-4), 48-23, in the second round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Saturday.
WSU, which won its seventh-straight game, advances to the quarterfinals to face #7 Maine next weekend.
SEMO got on the board first when Colby Cornett made an excellent a third-and-30 to get the Redhawks a first down at the WSU 2-yard line. Following an incomplete pass, Daniel Santacaterina hit paydirt on a 2-yard run to put SEMO ahead, 7-0, with 25 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats started their surge when Jake Constantine threw a game-tying 10-yard touchdown pass to Rashiud Shaheed to complete a 13-play, 64-yard drive with 10:16 left to play in the second quarter.
WSU added 20 more second-quarter points after that.
Keilan Benjamin intercepted a Santacaterina pass at the SEMO 27-yard line. Three plays later, Constantine hooked up with Devon Cooley on a 6-yard touchdown pass.
On fourth-and-10, WSU faked a punt and picked up a first down on an 11-yard completion from Doug Lloyd to Jared Schiess. The extended drive ended in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Constantine to Isiah Jackson pushing the Wildcats lead to 20-7 with under a minute left.
Santacaterina threw another interception, this time to Jordan Preator on SEMO's ensuing possession. The Wildcats capitalized on that turnover with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Constantine to Jackson to take a 27-7 lead at the half.
WSU received the kickoff in the second half and used a 21-yard run by Josh Davis to get into SEMO territory. The 8-play, 66-yard march culminated with a 10-yard touchdown run by Constantine.
SEMO continued to battle and managed to get within 11 following a 4-yard touchdown run by freshman Zion Custis and a 33-yard fumble return for a TD by Demarcus Rogers. The Redhawks trailed, 34-23, after those two scores.
Tre Garrett sprung for 48 yards on the first play of WSU's next drive. WSU, facing a fourth-and-Goal at the SEMO 4-yard line, lined up to kick a field goal. Lloyd, however, took the snap and ran into the end zone to make it 41-23 at the 10:00 mark.
Preator picked off Santacaterina for the second time and sprinted 52 yards for a touchdown to polish off WSU's victory.
Santacaterina completed 12-of-30 passes for 110 yards, matched a season-high four interceptions and was sacked four times as SEMO's offense had 268 yards.
Custis led the Redhawks with 62 yards rushing and a touchdown on five carries, while Santacaterina added 44 yards on 15 attempts. Marquis Terry was limited to only one carry for three yards in the first quarter. Terry did not play the rest of the game due to a knee injury sustained prior to today's contest.
Garrett averaged nearly eight yards (7.9) per carry en route to his game-high 134 yards on 17 touches. Constantine threw for 199 yards and four touchdowns, as well.
The Wildcats collected 409 total yards with an average of 5.7 per play.