STATESBORO – Jalen White scored three touchdowns and ran for 125 yards to help lead the Georgia Southern football team to a heart-stopping 29-20 victory over App State Saturday night at Allen E. Paulson Stadium/Evans Family Field as the Eagles closed out the regular season with a big rivalry win.
The Eagles (8-4, 6-2) took the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown drive that was capped off by a 10-yard pass from JC French to Josh Dallas, and then Matthew Daniel ran it in for the two-point conversion. App State scored a touchdown midway through the second quarter, but the two-point conversion was stopped. The Eagle offense got rolling again late in the half and Jalen White punched it in from 4 yards out to give Southern a 15-6 lead. The Mountaineers had a chance to cut into the lead right before the half, but a goal-line stand on fourth down led by Davon Gilmore stopped the threat.
The two teams exchanged turnovers in the third quarter before App (5-6, 3-5) scored on a pass with 4:33 left in the third quarter to cut the Eagles' lead to two points. French led the Eagles right back down the field and White trotted in for his second score of the game, 11th of the season, when he took it in from 3 yards out to widen the lead back to nine. The Eagles held on defense but then turned the ball over and App State scored two plays later with 8:16 left.
White took over late, rushing for 86 yards on the final drive, including the game-clinching 35-yard scoring run to ice it.
French threw for 166 yards and a score and ran for 51 yards while Marques Watson-Trent led the defense with 13 tackles. Tracy Hill Jr. and Jacob Ferguson both had interceptions for the defense.
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