Eagles clinch share of get 7th straight Southern title
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Posted 7:47AM on Sunday, November 10, 2002
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Quarterback Chaz Williams ran for three touchdowns and threw for another score as Georgia Southern secured at least a share of its seventh straight Southern Conference title with a 42-21 win Saturday over Furman. <br>
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Williams ran 23 times for 110 yards and Jermaine Austin ran 19 times for 105 yards as the Eagles (8-2, 7-1) rolled up 409 yards on the ground. <br>
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Billy Napier went 17-for-28 for 234 yards and three touchdowns for Furman (6-3, 4-2), who had its 11-game home winning streak broken. <br>
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Georgia Southern put the game away early. The Eagles led 35-0 at halftime after scoring three touchdowns in the final 2:03 of the first half. <br>
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The scoring blitz started with Zzream Walden's 22-yard scoring run to make it 21-0. Furman fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Williams had a 2-yard touchdown run two plays later. Williams also scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards. <br>
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The Eagles then forced a Furman punt. Two plays later Williams found Walden on a 40-yard touchdown pass with 32 seconds left in the half. <br>
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Georgia Southern held Furman to just 85 yards rushing. <br>
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The Eagles can win the Southern Conference title outright if Wofford loses one of its final two games.<br>
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``I'm awfully proud of these guys,'' Georgia Southern coach Mike Sewak said. ``They've played hard for the past seven weeks when everyone counted us out.'' <br>
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The Eagles converted nine of 15 third downs. <br>
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``I'm happy with the execution of our offense,'' Sewak said. ``It seemed like we kept getting big plays, especially on third down.'' <br>
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Furman coach Bobby Lamb said Georgia Southern just ran their plays better. <br>
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``I was impressed with Chaz Williams,'' Lamb said. ``He's a running back playing quarterback. He's a bigger kid than they've ever had at the quarterback position.''