Marshall football suffers late collapse in Statesboro

 by Ben Anderson


    Marshall football suffered a late collapse Saturday in Statesboro, Georgia, as it gave up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to fall to the Georgia Southern Eagles 24-23.

    

    After taking a 23-3 lead halfway through the third quarter, the Thundering Herd crumbled as their offense ran 19 plays for 12 yards, turning the ball over three times in the fourth quarter. The Herd was also punished by penalties in the fourth quarter with four penalties that shut down the little offense that the Herd had in the quarter.


    “Those two things combined are a recipe for disaster. It's just a matter of time before it catches up to you, and we had way too many of them early that you can kind of live with, but late, you can't.” Marshall head football coach Charles Huff said during his postgame press conference. 


    Marshall quickly jumped to a 3-0 lead on its opening possession of the game as kicker Rece Verhoff would connect on a 36-yard field.


    The penalties began for Marshall in the first quarter as tight end Toby Payne would be called for a holding penalty that detached a Stone Earle 20-yard touchdown run. Marshall, on the drive, was forced to settle for a 2nd field goal to take a 6-0 lead. 


    Late in the game, penalties haunted the Thundering Herd as Braylon Braxton had a first-down run deleted by a holding call that would have iced the game late. 


    Braxton suffered his second fumble of the game soon after the play and gave the ball back to the Eagles to drive down the field with a chance to win the game. 


    Georgia Southern head football coach Clay Helton credited the team’s defense for the 4th quarter comeback. 


    “The momentum switched started with the first turnover, the first turnover happened, (and) it was like an avalanche; we found a way to rip two balls out that lead to 14 points, and all of a sudden, its 24-23.” Helton said during his postgame news conference.


    On the game-winning drive, Eagles backup quarterback Dexter Williams Derwin Burgess Jr. for a 34-yard touchdown to give the Eagles their first lead with 1:00 remaining, as Earle would throw an interception ending the game with 33 seconds left in the contest


    Earle started the game for Marshall but was pulled after four drives in which Marshall had three field goals and a punt. Braxton then entered the contest and conducted a 96-yard drive that concluded with a touchdown pass to Payne to give Marshall a 16-3 at halftime. 


    Braxton connected with Payne on two touchdowns overall, with the last in the third quarter before Huff put Earle back on the field. 


    “We had a number of series we wanted to get each one,” Huff said. “Then we felt like if we had the lead, we could end the game running the ball, which we had the opportunity to do, but you can’t turn it over.”


    Each quarterback completed nine passes with Braxton throwing 12 times, and Earle throwing 17 times for a combine 189 yards. 


    Georgia Southern’s comeback started with a safety when Earle was penalized for intentional grounding in the endzone to put the score 23-5.


    Then Williams threw and ran a score along with David Mbadinga 1-yard score to complete the Eagles comeback. 


    Georgia Southern outgained Marshall 422 yards to 389 despite being held to 93 on the ground.


    Marshall fell to 3-3 (1-1). Georgia Southern improved to 4-2 (2-0)


    Marshall plays Thursday at Joan C. Edwards stadium against Georgia State with kickoff at 7 p.m. 

 



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