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The New Mexico State football team lost 31-48 to former Sun Belt rival the Georgia Southern Eagles in a battle at home Saturday evening.
To kick off the ball game, the New Mexico State Aggies put up the first points on the board. The Aggies moved down the field with ease, only picking up one third down. The drive ended with a 5-yard rushing touchdown by junior running back, Christian Gibson.
Georgia Southern answered with points of its own. After the Aggie touchdown, the Eagles quarterback was able to pull off a 33-yard run followed by a 15-yard run to land the team in the red zone. The Aggie defense, however, held the Eagles and forced a field goal try, which put Georgia Southern on the board with three points.
On the next drive, the Aggies were able to march down the field into the opposition’s red zone. Freshman quarterback Josh Adkins then handed the ball off to junior running back Jason Huntley for a 9-yard touchdown run, extending the Aggies’ lead to 14-3.
Following a couple of drives that resulted in punts, Georgia Southern was able to get back within four. In a drive that lasted less than a minute, Georgia Southern raced down the field for an Eagle touchdown, closing the score to 14-10.
The second quarter only saw three combined drives for the teams. The first series of the quarter began with the Eagles scoring a touchdown to steal the lead from the Aggies. Staying with the ground game, Georgia Southern was able to score on an 8-yard run to make the scoreboard read 14-17 with 9:33 left on the clock.
The Aggies were able to chew-up some clock themselves on their next drive. After three minutes, the junior kicker Dylan Brown ended the drive with a 23-yard field goal. After the field-goal the contest was tied at 17.
During the remaining minutes of the first half, the Eagles slowly marched down the field. Georgia Southern burned over six minutes off the game clock and called a timeout with twelve seconds left. After the timeout, the Eagles scored the last touchdown of the half, making the score at the break 24-17.
To begin the second half, Georgia Southern was quick to extend its lead. The Eagles were able to score on a 1-yard touchdown putting the team up 31-17.
The Aggies’ next drive ended with a fumble recovered by the Eagles. Georgia Southern would then trot down the field and score another touchdown, extending the lead to 45-17.
After finding little success in the second half, the Aggies were finally able to find the end zone. Jason Huntley scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the third quarter for his second touchdown of the game. Huntley’s score dug into the Eagles’ lead 24-45.
Georgia Southern was able to extend its lead to 48-24 early in the fourth quarter with a 25-yard field goal. In the final moments of the game, Jason Huntley capped off a stellar performance with his third rushing touchdown of the game. However, his tremendous effort couldn’t win the game for the Aggies.
Dropping to 2-6 on the season, the Aggies will look for their third win Saturday, Oct. 27, when they travel to Texas State to play the Bobcats.
