FINAL STATS  |  PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – Griffin Thomas had enjoyed modest success as a placekicker since enrolling at Jacksonville State two years ago.

Before Saturday night, the junior from Snellville, Ga., had made a total of three field goals in a Gamecocks uniform – a 49-yarder a week earlier in the season opener at Arkansas and two kicks in a 2010 playoff loss to Wofford.

One thing he had never done – in high school or college – was kick a game-winning field goal.

Facing the most important kick of his career against Chattanooga, Thomas calmly booted a 37-yard field goal as time expired to lift No. 24 Jacksonville State to a thrilling 27-24 victory before an announced crowd of 18,993 at Burgess-Snow Field. The Gamecocks improved to 1-1.

Jacksonville State, which led 24-10 midway through the third quarter, had seen the Mocs (0-2) scrap back to tie game with 39 seconds remaining. Jacob Huesman's 16-yard touchdown pass to Ron Moore and the ensuing two-point conversion run by Keon Williams made it 24-24 and marked the first time the Gamecocks had not held the lead.

Gabriel Chambers' 34-yard return on the ensuing kickoff kept alive Jacksonville State's hopes of avoiding overtime.

Quarterback Marques Ivory then promptly moved the Gamecocks into Mocs territory with three straight completions.
On second-and-10 at the UTC 33, DeMarcus James ran 13 yards up the middle and Jacksonville State managed to call a timeout with the scoreboard clock showing 0:01.

That brought in Thomas, who made the first game-winning field goal by a Gamecocks placekicker since Steven Lee booted a 41-yarder to beat Alabama A&M in the '02 season opener.

“It was a little nerve-wracking. I was kind of happy (Chattanooga) called a timeout, though, to give us time,” Thomas said of the Mocs' effort to ice him.

“I'm just glad I got the kick off. It was leaning to the right a little, but then it curved back in the middle. It looked good.”

“We had a hard-fought game against a very quality football team and we made a lot of mistakes,” said head coach Jack Crowe. “We have a lot of work to do … we have got a lot of work to do, but having said that, we have a quality football team.”

The teams combined for 822 total yards in a game filled with big plays on both sides of the football.

Jacksonville State's James (120) and Troymaine Pope (101) both surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark, the first time two Gamecocks had gone over 100 yards in the same game since the 2008 win over Chattanooga. James had a 43-yard touchdown run and also caught a 30-yard TD pass from Coty Blanchard.

Thomas' night got off to a good start when he capped a 16-play JSU scoring drive in the first quarter with a 33-yard field goal. Taking over after a missed Mocs field goal attempt, the Gamecocks moved from their 20 to the UTC 16, consuming more than 7½ minutes.

Thomas' kick made it 3-0 with 5:35 left in the first quarter.

The Mocs drove to the JSU 29 on the next possession but soon find themselves trailing 10-0. Huesman, the son of Chattanooga head coach Russ Huesman, fumbled at the JSU 25, where it was picked up by Jacksonville State safety Pierre Warren.

Warren raced 75 yards with the return and Thomas tacked on the extra point to extend the lead to 10-0 at the 2:21 mark. It was the third-longest fumble return in school history and the longest by a Gamecock since 1962.

James' 43-yard run with 4:48 left before halftime and Thomas' PAT stretched Jacksonville State's lead to 17-0. But Chattanooga responded with a 53-yard scoring drive to end the half, capped off by Huesman's 1-yard rush with only 1 second left.

Jacksonville State returns to action on Sept. 22 when it opens Ohio Valley Conference play at Eastern Kentucky.


- Captains for the Gamecocks: senior QB Marques Ivory, senior DB Brooks Robinson, and
senior DE DiMetrio Tyson
- JSU won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.
- Jacksonville State had three players make their first career starts today vs Chattanooga.
two on defense: Jordan Jackson (DL) and Denzel Bynum (DB) and one on offense: Troymaine
Pope (RB)
- Jax State's 27-24 win tonight over UTC was the Gamecocks' 16th win over the final 2:00 since 1993 and JSU is now 6-2 in games decided by four points or less since the start of the 2010 season.
- JSU trails the all-time series 26-11 but has now won six of the past eight meetings since
the series resumed in 2004.
- Sophomore Pierre Warren scored his first career touchdown when he returned a fumble
75 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. It ranks as the third longest return in Gamecock
History, and the longest since Eugene Green's 98-yd return in 1962. Junior Rashad Smith
forced the fumble, the first forced fumble of his career.
- Warren's fumble return ranks as the longest fumble return under Jack Crowe. Warren
also holds the longest interception return under Jack Crowe, and the third longest return in
school history with a 98-yd return for TD against Tennessee State in 2011.
- Sophomore DaMarcus James scored his first career rushing touchdown with a 43-yard touchdown
run. The run also marks the longest rush in his career.
- Both DaMarcus James and Troymaine Pope finished with a career high in rushing yards.
James finished with 120-yards on 16 carries. His previous high was 48-yards on nine carries
against Austin Peay on Oct. 15, 2011.
- Pope finished with 101 rushing yards on 12 carries in his first career start.
-JSU finished with two 100-yard rushers for the first time since Sept. 20, 2008, against
Chattanooga when Tremayne Coger rushed for 123-yards and Daniel Jackson rushed for
111 yards.
-Senior QB Marques Ivory threw his first interception since December 4, 2010 against Wofford.
- DaMarcus James caught his first career touchdown pass and the longest reception of his
career with his 30-yard reception from Coty Blanchard in the third quarter.
- James also became the second JSU player this season to record at least one rushing
touchdown and one receiving touchdown in a game. Senior Alan Bonner caught one TD
pass and rushed for one TD last week against Arkansas.
- Last time senior QB Marques Ivory did not throw a TD pass in a game was September 25,
2010. He has thrown a TD pass in 18-of-24 games in which he has attempted a pass.
- Sophomore Sean Watson recorded his first career sack when he brought down UTC quarterback
Jacob Huesman with 1:07 left in the fourth-quarter.
- Freshman punter Hamish MacInnes recorded a career-long punt of 53 yards in the fourth
quarter
- Griffin Thomas kicked the first game-winning field goal since Aug. 31, 2002 when Steven
Lee kicked a 41-yd field goal to beat Alabama A&M with :01 left.
- Senior wide receiver Alan Bonner has now caught a pass in 10-straight games.
- Junior linebacker Rashad Smith finished with 15 tackles, making him the first JSU player
to finish with 15 or more tackles in a game since Alexander Henderson finished with 17
tackles against Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 1, 2009.

By the Numbers
46 - Yards sophomore DaMarcus James ran for his first career touchdown, also the longest rush of his career.

2 - Number of touchdowns scored by DaMarcus James. James finished with one rushing TD and one passing TD.

150 - Yards of total offense DaMarcus James finished with 120 rushing and 30 receiving.

101 - Yards rushing yards freshman Troymaine Pope finished with in his first career start.

37 - Distance of Griffin Thomas's game-winning field goal.

125 - Consecutive games in which the Gamecocks have scored, a streak that dates back to Nov.18, 2000, when they were last shut out.

10 - Straight games Alan Bonner has caught a pass in a game.

15 - Number of tackles Rashad Smith turned in.

18,993 - Attendance for tonight's home opener.




Opening Comments
“We had a hard fought game against a very quality football team, and we made a lot of mistakes.  We have a lot of work to do, but we won and there wasn't a step a player took out there that I had a problem within terms of what they did - there was some hard intent.  We have got to learn how and turn it loose, but having said that we have a quality football team.  We didn't have as good of an offensive rhythm as we did with Arkansas.  On defense, they were running the option and it's not that we were missing tackles, but we weren't focused enough to play assignment football.  I was impressed that the players and coaches didn't panic, that is the difference from last year to this year I will be honest with you.”

On the game-winning drive
“You ask, 'Why you run the ball with six seconds left?'  You do that if you feel confident about going into overtime.  I was ready to go into overtime, I always ask myself before I go to a game... do I want to go into overtime.”

On the running game
“We have some very good runners and when Washaun Ealey gets back, he will be the starting running back and that needs to be said.”



Griffin Thomas, PK, Jr.
On the Game-Winning Kick
“Coach Crowe said to the blockers - just get a good block. The kick was leaning to the right a little bit and curved back to the middle. I was happy that they called a timeout. And after, I was just trying to run from everyone. I took my eye off of it and started running before it even hit the ground. This was my first time to kick a game-winner, other than the Spring game. In high school, we never had close games. I was a lot more excited for this kick than the kick in the spring game. Marques (Ivory) told me he was going to get it down there for me.”

Marques Ivory, QB, Sr.
On The Final Drive
“We got a great return from Gabriel Chambers and he did a good job especially with the squib kick.  Before we went out there I told (Thomas Griffin) I'm going get you in there. Gavin Ellis made a pretty good catch on that drive.”

DaMarcus James, RB, So.
On the final play before the Kick
“They called the play and I realized that I wasn't going to make it so I just got down and they called a timeout. I looked up and saw three seconds and I got down. My name was called, so I had to execute.”

Troymaine Pope, RB, Fr.
On his performance
“All I did was read the blocks off the line.  The offensive line did all my work.  When the opportunity came, you have to do what you have to do. The holes were very big, they were gigantic. The offensive line did a great job and I couldn't have done everything I did without them.”

Rashad Smith, LB, Jr.
On his forced fumble
“I stripped the ball out and I heard the crowd making loud sounds so I knew it was a fumble but I wasn't sure if we had it or if they had it. When I saw Pierre (Warren) had it, I knew he was going all the way down the field and I couldn't keep up to block for him.”