Albany Herald

Old Dominion defenders try to run down Georgia Southern quarterback Jaybo Shaw during the two teams’ second-round FCS playoff game Saturday in Statesboro.

STATESBORO — Dominique Swope ran for two touchdowns and 255 yards in a game dominated by both offenses as Georgia Southern held on to beat Old Dominion, 55-48, on Saturday in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

The Eagles (10-2) gained 477 of their 607 yards on the ground as the two teams totaled 1,167 yards of offense.

Georgia Southern hosts Maine in the quarterfinals either Friday or Saturday. The Black Bears defeated Appalachian State 34-12, to earn the right to play the Eagles.

Swope, who had 31 carries against the Monarchs, now has run for 573 yards in his last three games.

“We just ran out of gas,” Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder said. “We could not stop their offense.

“It’s a helpless feeling. We felt very good about our preparation. We did not see much different from what we prepared for. The most frustrating thing was our inability to tackle.”

The Monarchs gained 560 yards with Taylor Heinicke throwing for 341 on 25 of 44 passes. He added 75 yards on seven carries.

“We tried it all,” Georgia Southern coach Jeff Monken said. “We blitzed, we didn’t blitz. We didn’t know what to do. The kid playing quarterback for them did a great job. They made plays.”

Old Dominion (10-3) gained the most yards allowed by Georgia Southern this season.

Tied at 28 at the half, Swope ran 76 yards on the first play of the third quarter. Old Dominion answered on Heinicke’s 8-yard pass to Larry Pinkard with 11:47 left in the third quarter.

But the Eagles then gave their defense some rest, as they ate up 7:55 with a 14-play, 76-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard TD run by Nico Hickey. Old Dominion blocked Adrian Mora’s extra point attempt, breaking a streak of 156 straight for Mora and marking the first miss of his career, but the Eagles wouldn’t trail the rest of the way.

Jaybo Shaw scored with 8:15 to play and the two-point conversion made it 49-35, and that proved to be too much for the Monarchs to overcome.

The combined 103 points was only two points shy of the FCS playoff record 105 set in 1999 when Louisiana-Monroe beat Alcorn State, 78-27.