FINAL STATS  |  PHOTO GALLERY

CHENEY, Wash. – The red carpet on the road to Frisco, Texas, turned out to be a roadblock for Jacksonville State.

Something had to give when the fourth-ranked total offense among Football Championship Subdivision teams met the sixth-best pass defense in Saturday's national quarterfinal on the red turf at Eastern Washington's Roos Field, aka "The Inferno."

Walter Payton Award finalist Vernon Adams threw two touchdowns and Albert Havili provided a back-breaking 77-yard interception return for a score as No. 3 Eastern Washington held off No. 20 Jacksonville State 35-24. The Gamecocks end their first season under head coach Bill Clark with an 11-4 record.

Eastern Washington (12-2) hosts Towson State next Saturday in the FCS semifinals.

Injuries to starting quarterback Eli Jenkins and record-setting running back DaMarcus James proved too much for the Gamecocks to overcome after battling the Eagles evenly for one half.

Jenkins had accounted for 245 total yards (127 passing, 118 rushing) before leaving with an injury late in the second quarter. James, who had a 1-yard TD run midway through the second quarter, also sat out the second half after being hurt.

James finished the 2013 campaign with a school-record 29 rushing touchdowns.

Eastern Washington scored on its first drive of the second half to regain the lead for good. The Eagles added the clincher when Havili stepped in front of a Max Shortell pass and returned the interception 77 yards with 10:40 remaining to make it 35-24.

Jacksonville State – which had outscored its first two playoff opponents (Samford, McNeese State) by a combined 59-0 in the first half – found itself tied with the high-octane Eagles 21-21 at intermission.

The two offenses piled up 649 yards in the first 30 minutes.

JSU's defense forced a pair of first-half turnovers after the Eagles had moved into the red zone. The first turnover, a fumble recovery by Harris Gaston, came after the only punt of the half, a 35-yarder by Hamish MacInnes that gave EWU possession at JSU's 37. But Gaston forced a fumble at the goal line and recovered it in the end zone to stop the threat.

Jacksonville State came back with a 60-yard march from its 20 to Eastern Washington's 20. But the Gamecocks came away without points when All-American kicker Griffin Thomas missed a 37-yard field goal attempt wide to the right.

Eastern Washington covered 80 yards in six plays after the missed field goal try. Adams capped it off with a 29-yard scoring pass to Cooper Kupp at the 5:52 mark to make it 7-0.

The Jenkins-led Gamecocks' offense took the ensuing kickoff and drove 75 yards in 13 plays to tie it.

Telvin Brown capped the drive by taking a pitch from Jenkins and tossing a 3-yard pass to tight end Gavin Ellis in the back of the end zone. Thomas kicked the PAT to make it 7-7 with 55 seconds left in the first quarter.

Robert Gray intercepted Adams early in the second quarter and JSU took advantage of the second EWU turnover.

Jenkins' running and passing quickly moved the Gamecocks 80 yards in 12 plays. Jenkins finished off the go-ahead scoring march with a 10-yard pass to Anthony Johnson at the 10:48 mark and Thomas' PAT gave JSU a 14-7 lead.

Eastern Washington's second scoring drive of 1 minute, 45 seconds pulled the Eagles into a 14-14 tie. Forte went three yards for a touchdown at the 9:03 mark and Kevin Miller's kick tied the game for the second time.

But the first-half scoring outburst wasn't over.

James took a direct snap and ran in from the EWU 1 with 6:11 left in the second quarter to finish off a 72-yard drive. Thomas' PAT put Jacksonville State ahead for the second time, 21-14.

The Eagles, however, answered with another quick score, drawing even at 21-21 when Adams and Ashton Clark hooked up on a 41-yard TD reception with 2:39 left before halftime.

Eastern Washington's Adams, a sophomore, threw for 324 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Clark caught 11 of Adams' 18 completions for 181 yards and one TD.

Shortell was 12-of-22 for 173 yards in relief of Jenkins with two interceptions. Troymaine Pope gained 49 yards on 14 carries after stepping in for James.

The Gamecocks are slated to kick off the 2014 season on Aug. 30 at defending Big Ten Conference champion Michigan State.


POSTGAME NOTES
- Captains for the Gamecocks: LB Robert Gray, OL Taylor Johnstone, LB Dustin Gayton.
- Eastern Washington won the toss and deferred to the 2nd half.
- The Gamecocks scored 528 points this season, 127 more than any other team in school history. Previous record was 421 set in 1991.
- The Gamecocks finish the season with 65 touchdowns, breaking the previous school record of 57 set in 1991.
- Harris Gaston's forced a fumble at the JSU one on EWU's first possession, the first force and recovery of his career.
- Eastern Washington's touchdown with 5:52 left in the first quarter marked the first time the Gamecocks have trailed since week 11 at #2 Eastern Illinois (Nov. 16).
- Telvin Brown's three-yard TD pass to Gavin Ellis late in the first quarter made him the 10th JSU player to throw a pass this season and the fifth to throw a TD pass.
- Gavin Ellis had just one catch through the first 14 games before his second, a three-yard TD toss from Telvin Brown. It was Ellis' first TD catch of the year and second of his career.
- Rob Gray's interception in the end zone in the second quarter was his second of the year and the sixth of his career.
- With his 118 rushing yards before being injured late in the second quarter, Eli Jenkins now has five 100-yard rushing games this season. He has run for at least 97 yards in each of his last six games.
- Eli Jenkins completed 85.7 percent (12-for-14) of his passes on Saturday, the third-highest completion percentage in school history by a quarterback attempting at least 10 passes in a game.
- Junior Pierre Warren's interception in the third quarter was his fifth of teh season and the seventh of his career.
- With his touchdown run today, junior DaMarcus James ran his school and OVC records to 29 on the year. He now has 35 career TD runs, third in school history.
- Freshman Joshua Barge caught six passes for 95 yards in the game, pushing his freshman records to 58 catches and 877 yards on the year. His 58 catches moves him into a tie for 3rd with Joey Hamilton (1999), while his 877 yards are now 3rd on the school's single-season lists.
- The Gamecocks are now 17-13 all-time in postseason games and are 2-4 in the FCS playoffs. This was their first trip to teh quarterfinals at the Division I level.
- JSU is now 3-3 vs. FCS ranked foes under Bill Clark and 10-39 all-time.
- EWU was the sixth ranked opponent the Gamecocks have played this season, the most in a season in school history.

BY THE NUMBERS
0 - Number of times JSU had been tied at halftime this season before today's 21-21 halftime score.

4 - TD catches by freshman Anthony Johnson this season, a team high.

8 - Receptions by Telvin Brown, a new career high.

29 - Rushing TDs by DaMarcus James this season after running for one today, adding to his school and OVC records.

35 - Career rushing touchdowns by DaMarcus James, third in school history.

65 - Touchdowns scored by JSU this season, the most in a season in school history.

118 - rushing yards by Eli Jenkins before getting injured late in the second quarter, his fifth 100-yard rushing game.

312 - Yards of total offense by JSU in the first half, the second time in 3 playoff games in which its gained 300 in the first half (361 vs Samford in 1st round)

528- Points scored by the Gamecocks this season, adding to the school record that was already set.

1,477 - Rushing yards by DaMarcus James this season, adding to his school record that was set last week.

3,033 - Passing yards by the Gamecocks this season, breaking the 1982 team's school record of 2,915.

3,604 - Rushing yards by JSU this season, third most in a season in school history.

6,637 - Total offense this season by JSU, 1,755 yards more than any other team in school history (4,882 in 1991)


Jacksonville State Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Bill Clark
Opening Statement:
"Give Eastern Washington credit for a great game. My hat is off to them and best wishes for them next week. It was obviously a great game from a great team and we were well-taken care of while we were here. It's a statement for our team to be come in last January and for them to buy in and believe what we were telling them. I think it was so apparent tonight just how hard they fight and how much they believe. It felt like every time you turned around there was another offensive guy coming off the field with an injury, but that is part of the game. Defensively, we started playing a lot better in the second half, and we had our chances. It was just a great first half from our offense, and defensively, give their offense credit -- we could hardly slow them down. We made some good plays in the red zone, and then we started playing a little better on defense. We had that big stop, then we were driving, then of course the pick. It really hurt -- I guess that was pretty obvious to everybody. But give them credit, their defense made a great play against us, and their offense was hard to contain all night. I'm just super proud of my guys and what they've done for us to get here and how well they've played in the playoffs. I'm really proud of my team."
 
On effect of Eli's injury on the game:
"I think if you take anybody's starting quarterback, they're going to have some problems -- that's just the nature of the business. Especially if you have a guy that's mobile, you're taking that risk. That's always the worry when any quarterback runs. I mean it started when we had a left tackle go down, we only bring eight linemen, and so we have to move our guard to tackle. And then DaMarcus [James] gets an injury, and then Eli. But Eli was probably the one that hurt us the most. He was really playing excellent -- this was probably his best night of the season. That doesn't mean that all those things wouldn't have happened in the second half, but we were sure rolling in the first when he got hurt."
 
On how prepared the team was for the change:
"The way we rep it in practice, they [Eli and Max] get almost equal reps -- probably 60/40. But Max gets a ton of reps because we're an up-tempo team. He started for us earlier in the year. But you build a package around your starter, and as different as those two guys are, the packages have to be pretty different. I don't want to knock Max at all, it's just that Eli was playing great—he's played great since Southeast Missouri—and that was pretty evident tonight."
 
On EWU's interception returned for a TD:
"It was an option where we can throw the fade, and he has two choices there. He came back to the guy underneath, and we say that if you throw late to the middle bad things happen, and that's what happened. But for Eli to come in off the bench cold like he did, he played really well. But there we were, within a touchdown and we had a chance to score and take the lead, so that was a big blow."
 
On DaMarcus James' injury:
"It was just a deep thigh bruise, but it was one of those where he couldn't walk. When it rains it pours."
 
On Max's readiness to play:
"He was really well. At Samford we might have gone with Kyle [West], but last week for sure he was ready. But Eli was just the guy. He had become the starter, and I don't think there were any doubts. We built it around him and it was working.
 
On the reverse play for the TD:
"We felt like we had to have the touchdown, and it was a great situation to use it. We have multiple two-point plays, and we work two-point plays every day. You hope it works, as much time we put into it."
 
On dealing with EWU's high-scoring offense:
"I was really worried about it. They average forty-something points per game—they're a great offense. I was proud to see our defense make those changes, and then that big fourth down stop. Their coach made that gutsy call, but that's what happens on fourth down. I don't know if we had enough to play next week, but it sure would have been fun to see what would have happened."
 
On red zone takeaways:
"They were huge. That's finding a way to make a play against a great offense. That's what we talk about all the time. You have to give them credit offensively. We knew they had a great offense, we knew they were going to score. I was really proud of us in the second half—I think we got our personnel where they needed to be. But they had answers for a lot of different things, so give them credit."
 
On things done differently after Eli's injury:
"Max's style isn't to run the ball, so you lose that quarterback run game. We became a running back and passing team—that's who we are with Max. It's just a whole different mindset calling plays."
 
QB #7 Eli Jenkins
On play when injured:
"I really don't remember too much. I think I twisted it when I was getting up because the defender was trying to take the ball and I was trying to hold on to it. I just twisted my left knee."
 
On offensive performance before injury:
"I thought I was playing pretty good. I made a few mistakes here and there, but overall I was pretty good. I felt comfortable today. I just needed to be comfortable and relaxed, and make throws, and that's what I did."
 
WR #4 Telvin Brown
On trick play for TD pass:
"We have that play for a goal line situation like we were in. Basically it's just a reverse coming to me. I drew a lot of attention to myself and people don't think I can throw left handed, so I just flipped it up to Gavin wide open in the end zone. We worked on that play every day all year."
 
On offensive performance before Eli's injury:
"We were playing wonderful. You couldn't have drawn it up any better. We were doing what we wanted to do. We had some long drives, kept their offense off the field, and Eli made big plays with his arm and his legs. He gave the receivers chances to make plays, and the line did a great job making sure he had time and was opening up holes. A good athlete like Eli is going to find the wrinkles in a defense, and he's going to make you pay."
 
On how offense was different in the second half:
"When we got into a groove like that and somebody like Eli goes down, we got out of sync a little bit. We have some great quarterbacks who can come in, it's just that it takes different styles for different defenses, and the style that Eli brings was working for us tonight."
 
LB #3 Ketrick Wolfe
On whether EWU's running or passing game was most difficult to stop:
"It was pretty even. They are a good team, and there were just a couple miscues that we had on defense."
 
On back and forth first half:
"I was just thinking that whichever team made a stop was going to win the game."