CLEVELAND, Mississippi – The Delta State University Statesmen football team dropped its second straight home game to No. 2 West Georgia, 28-7 on Saturday night at Parker Field-McCool Stadium.

The Basics

• Score:   West Georgia 28, Statesmen 7
• Records: No. 8/15 Delta State (5-2, 1-2 GSC), No. 2/2 West Georgia (7-0, 3-0 GSC)
• Date: Saturday, Oct. 17 | 6:04 p.m. (CDT) Kickoff
• Location: Parker Field McCool Stadium | Cleveland, Miss.
• Series: Statesmen lead 18-12.

 
How It Happened
 
Scoring:

• The Wolves came out firing on their first possession of the contest, scoring on a two-yard rushing touchdown from Wil Garrett. A two-point conversion was successful, to make the score 8-0, at the 11:47 mark in the first quarter.
• UWG extended its lead to 14-0 with 4:37 remaining in the first quarter, as Garrett found the endzone from four yards out.
• With 7:02 left in the half, a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dallas Dickey to Qa Walker in the back of the end zone gave the Wolves a 21-0 lead, completing the first half scoring.
• Dickey rushed for an eight-yard touchdown to push West Georgia's lead to 28-0 with 5:37 remaining in the third quarter.
• At the 6:22 mark in the fourth quarter, Marquis Coston blocked a UWG punt. De'Koven Ware scooped it up and returned it for DSU's only score of the contest, to make the score 28-7.

Defense:

• After three first-half scores, Delta State's defense held the Wolves to just one touchdown in the second half.
• A team that entered the contest averaging 443.5 yards per game of total offense, the Wolves were held to just 381, their lowest output of the season.
• Ware led the defense with eight stops and two sacks. The 6-foot-2 linebacker also added four tackles for loss, a number that exceeded his entire 2014 total (3.0).

 
Special Teams:

• Ware's touchdown midway through the fourth quarter marked the second consecutive game with a blocked punt for a touchdown.
• Sciorrotta went 0-for-2 in field goals. His only success was a PAT following DSU's touchdown.
• Cody Mills tied his career-high seven punts for 333 yards, averaging 47.6 yards per punt with a long of 68.

Key Stat

• The Green-and-White were held to just 30 yards rushing.

 
Game Changer

• UWG scored three first-half touchdowns to take a 21-0 lead after the first 30 minutes.

 
Notables

• Delta State only accounted for just 23 yards of total offense in the first quarter.
• Tonight's contest was just the second time all season that DSU's opponent has scored first. Shorter was the only other team to accomplish the feat a week ago.
• The first-half scoring drought was the second time the Statesmen have been shut out in the first half under Todd Cooley. The last time it occurred was Oct. 3, 2013 at West Alabama, who was led by current West Georgia head coach, Will Hall.
• DSU has been shutout in the first quarter in two consecutive games.
• Just as West Georgia contributed a season-low in total offense, so did the Statesmen. Delta State combined for 227 yards of total offense.
• The Green-and-White lead the all-time series with West Georgia 18-12. However, the Wolves have won five out of the last six meetings.

Quote from the Coach:
"We didn't play well enough to beat them. We're going to go back to the drawing board, and see what happens next week, but West Georgia has got a heck of a football team, and they did what they had to do to win the game. I was proud of Tyler Cameron. That was a tough situation to come into as a true freshman. We've got some work to do. We understand that, but I'm proud of how we fought. We'll bounce back from it." 



Up Next
The Statesmen return to action on Saturday, Oct. 24, as they face the Tigers of West Alabama at Parker Field-McCool Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 p.m.