Saluki Football holds off Samford, 22-18, for road victory
- Tom Weber
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The power running of Chandler Chapman, another monster game by linebacker Ben Fiegel and a few gutsy plays from quarterback Jake Curry were enough to lift Southern Illinois over Samford, 22-18, on Thursday night.
The game-time temperature at Pete Hanna Stadium was 94 degrees with a heat-index of 102.
Maybe that’s why Southern’s offense started so hot, marching 75 yards on the opening drive for a 2-yard touchdown pass from Curry to tight end Karsen Konkel. Chapman accounted for a big chunk of yardage on the series with a 14-yard run and a 34-yard catch and run. He ended the game with a career-high 133 yards on the ground.
“He’s just a big, physical back that runs the ball hard,” marveled SIU head coach Nick Hill. “Twenty-four carries - he can be that type of guy to carry a heavy load.”
Making his first start in nearly two years, Curry was 13-of-29 passing for 153 yards in the contest, but after throwing three picks last week, tonight he tossed two touchdown passes and no interceptions.
“You want a quarterback that can win you games on the road, and you can win a lot of games with Jake Curry,” Hill said. “He showed growth from last week by making winning plays, not turning it over and trusting his teammates.”
Curry started five games as a freshman in 2024, but since then has served as understudy to All-American DJ Williams. The Salukis lost Williams to a knee injury last week at West Florida.
“To be honest with you, I didn't play well at all,” Curry said. “But I had a bunch of people behind me playing well, we got some momentum going and got ourselves in the end zone.”
The Salukis (1-1) got an early lift from the defense when Ibrahim Sanogo and Amir Dwight combined to sack Samford quarterback Gabarri Johnson in the end zone for a safety to make the score, 9-0, late in the first quarter.
Southern appeared to go ahead, 12-0, on a 47-yard field goal by Seth Adams, but a penalty against Samford gave the Salukis a first down, and four plays later, the drive stalled and Adams missed from 39.
That allowed the Bulldogs (0-2) to pull within 9-7, thanks in part to a 47-yard double-reverse pass that caught SIU off-guard.
With SIU clinging to a 9-7 lead late in the second quarter, Fiegel made a clutch play, dropping Cameron Bland for a four-yard loss that pinned Samford back to its own 2. Fiegel led the team in tackles again, racking up 14 stops, including three tackles for loss.
“Fiegs just keeps getting better,” Hill said. “He's a completely different player than when he showed up two years ago. He's changed his body. When you keep developing and have the right mindset, you become a really great player. And now it's his time.”
Southern put points on the board just before halftime, as Curry guided the offense 46 yards, rolling to his right on 3rd-and-goal and firing a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Miles Marshall. The extra point attempt failed, and the Salukis led, 15-7, at the half.
Samford made things interesting in the third quarter with a nine-play, 72-yard drive to tie it up, 15-15.
With the score still tied early in the fourth quarter, Fiegel delivered the game’s only turnover, picking off a Johnson pass at the Samford 23. The turnover was caused by heavy pressure from linebacker Chris Presto and defensive end Lukus McDaniels.
“The ball kind of hung up in the air and I was in the right spot at the right time,” Fiegel said. “Shout-out to Presto and Lukus because they made that play just as much as I made that play.”
Looking to regain the lead, Curry came through in the clutch on 3rd-and-8 from the Samford 21. He scrambled to his left, lowered his shoulder and picked up 18 yards to make it 1st-and-goal. Lem Wash finished the drive taking a direct snap and plunging into the end zone to make the score 22-15.
Southern’s defense came up with a key stop on Samford’s next drive, with Sanogo picking up his second sack, and linebacker Andrew Behm breaking up a pass that forced Samford to kick a 42-yard field goal, which trimmed the deficit to 22-18 with 6:42 remaining.
The Salukis had a chance to put the game out of reach, as Chapman ran for 24 yards and Curry completed a 34-yard pass to Markell Quick, but the drive bogged down, and Adams missed a 43-yard field goal, his third miss of the night.
Samford went 3-and-out and punted the ball back to SIU, and Chapman needed just three carries to pick up a first down and run out the clock.
“Props to Chandler,” Curry said. “He was the one who put us on his back.”
Southern out-gained Samford, 334-272, but the yards didn’t come easy.
“It was a grind offensively,” Hill acknowledged. “We had a few explosive plays in there. The exciting part of it is, if you find ways to win, you know you can get better and adjust to our strengths. That's what we got to continue to do.”
The Salukis have nine days until they play again, and it’s a big one, the War For The Wheel matchup versus SEMO on Family Weekend at SIU.
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