ORONO, Maine – Maine scored touchdowns on seven of its first nine possessions to defeat Jacksonville State 55-27 at Alfond Stadium Saturday afternoon in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
 
The Black Bears capitalized on two costly first-half turnovers by the Gamecocks (9-4) to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011.
 
Zerrick Cooper threw touchdown passes of 36 and 70 yards to Jamari Hester after Maine, the No. 7 national seed, jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead, but the Black Bears responded with three more scores in an 11:30-minute span to end the half to build a 28-point lead at intermission.
 
Maine advances to face the Weber State-Southeast Missouri State winner next week.
 
"Maine played really well and they got off to a great start," said Jacksonville State head coach John Grass. "We didn't get off to a good start and didn't play our best ball today, for sure.
 
"This is a hard way for these senior guys to go out. I wish we could have played a little better – it was a good season and the seniors have had great careers."
 
Jacksonville State's defense had few answers in the game's opening 30 minutes.
 
Quarterback Chris Ferguson threw four touchdown passes and the Black Bears finished off the first-half scoring with a 99-yard drive capped by a 24-yard TD run by Ramon Jefferson to build an insurmountable lead.
 
Jefferson finished with 186 yards on 26 carries and scored twice as the Black Bears pounded 268 yards on the ground.
 
"They had a great game plan," Grass said. "You could tell they had two weeks to get ready for us. We had two turnovers inside our own 15 and that's hard to dig yourself out of."
 
Cooper finished his first season as a Gamecock with a 365-yard passing performance against the Black Bears. He also ran for a touchdown for 38 total (32 passing, six rushing) and accounted for a school-record 3,416 scrimmage yards in 2018.
 
Hester grabbed four passes for a game-high 125 yards. His two touchdown receptions moved him into a tie with Josh Barge (2015) for second-most touchdown catches in a single season with 11.
 
Josh Pearson, who entered the playoff matchup as the NCAA Division I leader with 17 touchdowns this year, was kept out of the end zone and limited to four catches for 62 yards. The junior wideout from Decatur fell 23 yards shy of eclipsing Barge's school record for receiving yards in a season (1,145 in 2015).
 
Cade Stinnett kicked field goals of 30 and 24 yards to give him 36 for his career, tying his father, Slade Stinnett, and Griffin Thomas for second place in the Gamecocks' record book.
 
Maine's defense, meanwhile, lived up to its billing as one of the premier units in FCS at stopping the run, limiting the Gamecocks to 87 yards on 32 carries.
 
Safeties Marlon Bridges and Traco Williams were Jacksonville State's leading tacklers with eight stops apiece. Senior defensive lineman Randy Robinson blocked Maine's final extra point try – his fifth this season – to establish a new JSU record. It was also the eighth of his career, another school record.
 
JSU dropped to 2-3 all-time against Colonial Athletic Association members.
 
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – at Maine
December 1, 2018 • Harold Alfond Stadium • Orono, Maine

• JSU Captains: Senior DE E.J. Moss, senior WR Shaq Davidson, senior DL Connor Christian and senior OL BJ Autry
• Jacksonville State won the toss and elected to defer to the second half.
• JSU is now 13-7 against ranked teams under John Grass.
• With the loss, JSU falls to 21-18 all-time in NCAA Playoff games and an 6-9 in FCS playoff games. The Gamecocks are now 6-6 in the postseason under John Grass.
• Jamari Hester's two touchdown receptions in the game gives him 11 this season, tying him with Josh Barge (2015) for the second-most in a season in school history.
• Zerrick Cooper's two touchdown passes in the game give him 32, extending his school record for touchdown passes in a season. It is his 11th game with multiple touchdown passes this season and gives him at least one in every game.
• Zerrick Cooper's 365 passing yards in the game gives him 3,416 on the season, extending his school record for passing yards in a season.
• Randy Robinson's blocked extra point in the fourth quarter was his fifth blocked kick of the season and eighth of his career. Both are school records.