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FLORENCE, Ala. – Vince Sciorrotta's 31-yard game-winning field goal with 9.9 seconds remaining ended an emotional night for Delta State University and catapulted the Statesmen (2-1, 1-0 GSC) to a 37-34 victory over North Alabama (1-2, 0-1 GSC) in the Gulf South Conference opener for both schools Saturday, Sept. 21 in front of 10,127 at Braly Municipal Stadium. 

"These guys never quit," DSU head coach Todd Cooley said.  "They just kept fighting all night long and when we had to make a play, we did.  I'm so proud of our team, our coaches and our fans that were here with us tonight! We are truly a Statesman family." 

The Statesmen capped their first drive of the game with a 32-yard Vince Sciorrotta field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 10:08 remaining in the first quarter.  DSU covered 10 plays and 42 yards in 3:34.

After stopping UNA on their second drive of the game, the Statesmen quickly made it 10-0 as Travis Champion connected with Casey Osborne on an 84-yard touchdown strike with 4:58 to go in the first quarter. 

With all the momentum on the side of the Statesmen, UNA finally got a stop on third down to force a DSU punt.  The Lions got a hand on Justin Holt's attempt and recovered at the DSU 4-yard line.  Two plays later, Chris Coffey plunged in for the touchdown and cut the DSU lead to 10-7 with 10:35 to play in the half.

Lightning struck twice in the first half again, as Champion connected on a 72-yard touchdown strike to Ricky Hunt to answer the UNA score.  Sciorrotta's PAT made it 17-7 with 9:56 remaining in the half.

In a half that saw just about everything, including back-to-back turnovers by both teams, Sciorrotta's 24-yard field goal capped a 40-yard, 10 play drive to put DSU up 20-7 with 2:53 to go in the half. 

The Statesmen defense bristled on the final Lions drive of the half, as DSU forced a 30-yard field goal attempt by Michael Schuester that sailed wide right with 45.3 second remaining in the half. 

DSU took two knees before taking a 20-7 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Statesmen amassed 341 yards of total offense in the half, while holding the Lions to just 47, including a mere 11 yards rushing.  Champion completed 25-of-31 passes for 304 yards and a pair of scores at the half. 

On DSU's first possession of the second half, Champion's long pass attempt was intercepted by Philbert Martial and returned 35 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 20-13 with 13:53 in the third quarter.

As DSU took advantage of long touchdown passes in the first, UNA used interceptions returned for scores to tie the game with 8:46 to go in the third.  Champion's third attempt of the second half was picked off by Brion James and returned it 53 yards for the score.  Schuester's PAT was no good to tie the game at 20-20. 

Delta State finally put together a drive on their opening possession of the fourth quarter, marching 77 yards in 11 plays as Casey Osborne hauled in his second touchdown pass of the night from Champion to put the Statesmen on top 27-20 with 11:16 to play.

On UNA's ensuing drive, Luke Wingo connected on a 50-yard scoring strike to Jason Smith to tie it up at 27-27 with just 9:56 left in the contest.  The drive covered 57-yards on just three plays.

The Lions continued to build upon their momentum in the second half, as Wingo and Smith connected on a 36-yard touchdown to take a 34-27 lead with 6:43 to play.

Champion answered the UNA drive by engineering an 11-play, 77-yard drive to tie the game at 34-34.  The junior from Moreno Valley, Calif., hooked up with Osborne for his third touchdown reception of the night with 2:45 to go.  DSU converted three plays of third-and-long to keep the drive going. 

DSU once again bristled on defense and held UNA on a third-and-10 to force a Schuester punt, which Hunt fair caught at the DSU 43-yard line. 

Champion would close the night with an 8-play, 47-yard drive that ended with Sciorrotta's 32-yard game-winning field goal with 9.9 seconds left in the game.

The defense made an emphatic statement with 3.1 seconds remaining after the kickoff return by Lemonte Thompson, as the Adrian Dinkins forced UNA's Wingo from the pocket and ultimately recorded a sack to end the contest.

DSU finished the game with 602 yard of total offense, the first time the Statesmen had crossed the barrier since totaling 711 at Lambuth on Nov. 13, 2010.  The ground game racked up 153 yards led by Tim Foy's 65 yards on 18 carries. 

Champion finished the night 40-of-52 passing for 450 yards and a career-high four touchdowns, including three to Osborne. 

Hunt led the Statesmen with 13 grabs for 146 yards and a score, while Osborne caught six passes for 116 yards.  Bethley hauled in eight passes for 53 yards.   

Sciorrotta hit on 3-of-4 field goals, including makes of 32, 24 and 31 yards on the night.  The true freshman from Cumming, Ga., was also 4-of-4 on PATs in the win.

Defensively, Charles Anthony's unit was led by true freshman safety David Evans, who tallied eight tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss.  Richard Nash finished with seven tackles, while Kenny Barnes and Daniel Larocca had five each.  

UNA closed the game with 204 yards of total offense with Wingo completing 10-of-20 passes for 155 yards and two scores. 

The Lions, who entered the night averaging 263 yards rushing, gained a mere 49 yards on 37 carries. 

Smith led UNA with 113 yards receiving on six catches, including two scores. 

The 2,000-plus mile road odyssey ends for DSU next week, as one of the largest events on the Delta State campus returns, the 28th annual Pig Pickin' Festival, which is set for Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28 at Statesman Park. The Statesmen face Florida Tech on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the highlight of the two-day event.

The annual BBQ event annually welcomes over 7,000 to DSU and tickets to the event are on sale now.  Game tickets are $10 each with BBQ tickets set at $6 each.  T-shirts are also available at $15 each with sizes S-3XL and youth sizes XS-L.