John Stevenson didn't want to lose two games in a row.
The senior Georgia Southern linebacker and two-time walk-on stripped the ball from Elon wide receiver Jeremy Peterson to force a fumble, which was recovered by GSU's Darius Eubanks, to preserve a three-point lead and help the Eagles escape with a 26-23 win Saturday at Paulson Stadium.
With Elon driving and less than two minutes remaining in the game, quarterback Thomas Wilson threw a pass, under pressure from Josh Gebhardt, 30 yards to Peterson.
Stevenson got his arms around the ball, too.
"I stuck my hand in there and started ripping a couple of times, and I felt the ball come loose," said Stevenson. "I reached my other hand in there and gave the best pull I could give, and the ball squirted out across the field."
Eubanks, who also intercepted a Wilson pass in the game, caught the fumble from the air and returned it 14 yards.
Turnovers were the focus of the last two weeks of practice for GSU (2-1, 1-1 Southern Conference), which lost its opener to The Citadel on Sept. 8, in large part because of early fumbles.
"For two weeks, I've been like Attila the Hun at practice," said GSU coach Jeff Monken. "Nobody was safe. I've been walking up behind people, punching the ball out, ripping the ball out. Every play on defense, I've been yelling at them to rip the ball, punch the ball out."
The lead changed in the game four times, but the Eagles got ahead for good when freshman kicker Alex Hanks, getting his first-career start after freshman Ryan Nowicki missed a pair of field goals against The Citadel, hit a 32-yard field goal with 4:04 remaining.
Training 13-6 at the beginning of the third quarter, the Eagles got an option pitch from quarterback Ezayi Youyoute to Johnathan Bryant, which Bryant took 78 yards for a score.
Later in the third, Hanks kicked his first-career field goal from 27 yards out for a 16-13 GSU lead.
Elon (2-2, 0-1) retook the lead on a touchdown catch by receiver Aaron Mellette (9 catches, 68 yards, 2 TDs), and GSU answered with a two-yard score by Dominique Swope. Elon tied the game at 20-20 with Adam Shreiner's third field goal of the contest.
Elon scored all 13 of its first-half points off of three GSU turnovers.
Monken said he wasn't expecting the game to be such a dog fight.
"We sure turned it into one by not taking care of the football and fumbling the ball," he said. "It was frustrating."
The fumbles started on the first play of the second drive, when Jerick McKinnon, in at slotback, mishandled a toss and gave the Phoenix the ball on the 22-yard line. The Elon drive stalled at the 5, and the Phoenix settled for a 22-yard field goal to cut the Eagles' lead to 6-3.
Early in the second quarter, the Eagles fumbled again. This time it was a mishandled snap by Youyoute that gave Elon the ball at the GSU 41-yard line.
The Phoenix settled for a 30-yard kick to knot the score at 6-6.
"Our defense just did a great job of holding them when we needed to hold than," said Youyoute, who led all rushers with 106 yards on 17 carries.
The Eagles fumbled for the third time on their next play from scrimmage, when Robert Brown couldn't handle a late pitch on the option from Youyoute. Elon got the ball at the 6, and after a 5-yard penalty and a two-yard run by Tracey Coppedge, Wilson hit Mellette on a 9-yard slant for a touchdown and a 13-6, halftime advantage.
The only highlights for GSU offensively in the first half were the opening drive, which featured McKinnon at fullback and went 56 yards on six plays, and a 41-yard run by Youyoute on a second-quarter drive that was stalled after a 15-yard chop block penalty.
The lone GSU touchdown came on Youyoute's first-career touchdown pass, a 38-yard catch-and-run by Kentrellis Showers.
A two-point conversion attempt on the extra point was botched to leave the Eagles with an early, 6-0 advantage.
NOTES
: Youyoute's 38-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter was the first scoring pass of his career. ... Johnathan Bryant's 78-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was the longest run of his career. ... Junior linebacker Kyle Oehlbeck played for the first time in 2012 after serving a two-game suspension for violation of team rules. He started the game, and recorded 7 tackles. ... Elon coach Jason Swepson, who missed last Saturday's game against West Virginia State, was back on the sidelines for the Phoenix in Paulson Stadium. ... In a commercial played on the Paulson Stadium video board during the game, retired NCAA coach and ESPN broadcaster Lou Holtz appeared with a GSU football helmet urging students to consider voting "yes" to FBS, referring to a vote by GSU students next week on proposed fee increases to fund a move to FBS, stadium expansion and sustainability. Later, former GSU coach and current Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, GSU basketball coach Charlton Young and former GSU running back Adrian Peterson appeared with the same message. ... Announced attendance was 18,393.
Matt Yogus may be reached at (912) 489-9408.
