Foster leads Eagles into tie for SoCon lead

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Jayson Foster turned in another record-setting performance during his amazing senior year, helping Georgia Southern pull out a 38-35 win at Wofford Saturday afternoon.

With the win and thanks also to Furman's upset win over Elon, the Eagles (7-2 overall, 4-2 Southern Conference) moved into a three-way tie for first place in the standings.

Foster rushed for a personal-high 279 yards on 28 carries, one shy of matching for the second-highest total in program history. It was the fourth 200-yard rushing game of his career (all this season) and he now owns the third, fourth and eighth-best single-game rushing performances. But it was a fourth down run late in the game that was arguably the biggest yardage gain.

Holding on to the three point lead with 1:22 remaining - and facing 4th-and-1 from the Wofford 32 - Foster hit the left corner for two yards and thanks to that first down was able to take a knee to secure the Eagles' first win in Gibbs Stadium since 2001 (48-10 win).

The senior quarterback wasted no time getting the Eagles on the board. After completing a pass to Joe Haynie on first down, Foster broke through the line and out-raced the Terrier defense 82 yards for a touchdown. Jesse Hartley's extra point gave GS a 7-0 lead. It marked the sixth-longest run in Georgia Southern history, and for Foster it was his fourth career 80-plus yard run.

However, the Terriers used a quick play strike to even the score just 82 seconds into the game. Keyed by a 59-yard halfback pass, in which Chris Covington made a TD saving tackle, Michael Hobbs scored from three yards out on the next play.

Wofford marched down the field and took the lead when Justice Joslin took a pitch and scored a 19-yard touchdown with 6:07 left in the first.

The Eagles' quick play strike offense tied the score, again needing just two plays. Foster faked a pitch and sped 72 yards for his 20th career multi-touchdown game, but more importantly tying the score at 14-all. On that TD run he surpassed his 2005 total of 121 rushing yards at Gibbs Stadium as the Eagles' starting quarterback.

Foster and company did it again on the ensuing drive. Thanks to key runs by Lamar Lewis and Mike Hamilton, Foster scored from three yards out and combined with Hartley's extra point put the Eagles ahead 21-14 early in the second quarter.

On Foster's third TD run, he matched his 2005 rushing TD total of 21