Georgia State’s football team suffered perhaps the worst loss in a season filled with disappointing results.
St. Francis, a NAIA school with an enrollment of a little more than 3,000, defeated the Panthers, an FCS (formerly Division I-AA) school with an enrollment of more than 30,000, 30-27 in overtime Saturday at the Georgia Dome. After kicking the 30-yard game-winning field goal, the Saints’ Sean Murray did a little soft-shoe dance on the Panthers’ grave as his teammates ran toward their sideline.
“There aren’t any words for that,” Curry said. “Except to say, for one more embarrassing fourth-quarter performance we apologize to the Georgia State community.”
The Saints (8-2) took advantage of almost every Georgia State (2-7) miscue and inefficiency, outscoring the Panthers 20-3 in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Panthers have been outscored 92-13 in the fourth quarter this season.
The Saints recovered their onside kick with 1:22 left when some of the Panthers’ players took a step backward at the kick. Their players twice were able to get out of bounds and stop the clock on the game-tying drive, the last time with one second left.
It was a head-scratching result in a season filled with head-scratching performances. Curry declined to say it was the worst loss of his career because he said St. Francis deserved to win. However, he did say it was “very, very disappointing.”
“It was a great experience coming down here to play in this stadium and in this environment,” St. Francis coach Mike Uremovich said. “It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our guys.”
On defense, despite featuring just one starter who weighs more than 255 pounds, the Saints outmuscled, outmanned and outschemed the bigger and stronger Panthers’ offense, holding them to 158 rushing yards and 355 overall.
In overtime, the Panthers went backward for the second consecutive week. Just as in last Saturday’s loss to Texas-San Antonio, the Panthers missed a field-goal attempt that would at least have given them a chance at a second overtime.
“We just couldn’t get the job done,” said quarterback Kelton Hill, one of the few players to perform well. He led the team with 197 passing yards, 98 rushing yards, and scored three touchdowns.
The Saints gained 475 yards, 120 more than Georgia State totaled. They dominated time of possession, holding the ball almost six minutes more than the Panthers.
“We overlooked this team,” defensive end Christo Bilukidi said. “We shouldn’t have done that. I’m only talking about the defense.”
Curry said he didn’t think the coaches overlooked the Saints, but he said some of the players may have.
The Panthers thought they had the game won after Matt Ehasz made a 34-yard field goal to give his team a 27-17 lead with 5:05 remaining.
But Ehasz, who was handling the kicking duties because starter Christian Benvenuto suffered an injury during warmups, punched his kickoff out of bounds, giving St. Francis the ball at the 40-yard line.
“That was significant,” Curry said.
The Saints quickly moved down the field and scored a touchdown on a pass from E.J. White to tight end Luke Gundersen to cut Georgia State’s lead to 27-24 with 1:24 remaining.
Perhaps thinking the Saints were going to kick the ball deep, some of the Panthers’ first line of defenders took a couple of steps down the field on the ensuing kick. Those actions opened up enough of the field for the Saints to recover the onside kick at the 42-yard line.
A few plays later, St. Francis wide receiver Elliott Allen caught a swing pass, turned upfield for more yards, and then wiggled his way out of bounds at the 14-yard line to set up a 31-yard field-goal attempt. Murray, who had earlier missed a 32-yarder, drilled it to force overtime.
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