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Sam Houston tied a New Orleans Bowl record with five takeaways, and Hunter Watson accounted for three touchdowns as the school got its first bowl victory since moving to FBS in 2022, beating Georgia Southern 31-26 on Thursday.

Watson completed 23 of 28 passes, including 14 straight completions in the first half. He tallied 213 passing yards, threw for one touchdown and scored on runs of 2 and 1 yards — the last one to put the game out of reach.

Sam Houston (10-3) lived up to its defensive reputation by coming up with four interceptions and a fumble.

Jaylon Jimmerson intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown. Jimmerson also had 10 tackles. The Bearkats also produced three sacks, six tackles for loss and four pass breakups.

“They do that week in and week out, so I’m always confident of our defense,” Watson said.

Georgia Southern quarterback J.C. French completed 20 of 33 passes for 212 yards and one touchdown, with the four interceptions. He ran for a 1-yard touchdown with nine seconds left for the Eagles (8-5).

Sam Houston’s defense set the pace early. On Georgia Southern’s first offensive play, French’s throw was intercepted by Jimmerson and returned 29 yards for a touchdown.

Following a fumble recovery by Ayden Jackson, French directed an 11-play, 80-yard drive — capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Josh Dallas. But Sam Houston responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that culminated when Watson flipped a pass to Simeon Evans for a 33-yard touchdown.

Jimmerson victimized French again on the next possession, reaching up for a one-handed interception and runback to the 13. Four plays later, Watson scored on a 2-yard keeper.

Georgia Southern was able to rush downfield on its final possession of the half and cut the margin to 21-10 on Gavin Stewart’s 49-yard field goal.

Georgia Southern scored twice in the third quarter. Jalen White ran in from 1 yard, two plays after French had hooked up with Marcus Sanders Jr. for a 43-yard pass. A two-point conversion run failed. The Eagles added another 49-yard field goal by Stewart and trailed 21-19 entering the fourth quarter.

Watson drove the Bearkats 88 yards in eight plays, scoring from the 1 to put Sam Houston up 28-19 with 11:37 to play.

–Field Level Media