STATESBORO, Ga. – The University of Maine football team had its hands full Saturday with perennial national power Georgia Southern and its vaunted triple option offense.

The Eagles rushed for a whopping 416 yards in an NCAA Division I-AA national quarterfinal game at sun-splashed Paulson Stadium.

In spite of Georgia Southern’s domination, there was a moment when UMaine appeared poised to make its move. However, when a GSU fumble, recovered by the Bears, was ruled an incomplete pass and the Eagles scored shortly thereafter, the Bears were unable to bounce back.

Second-ranked Georgia Southern seized the momentum, breaking the game open in the fourth quarter to put the finishing touches on a 31-7 victory over No. 5 UMaine in front of 6,708 rabid Eagle fans.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s 11-3 Bears set a single-season record for wins while bowing out in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.

“They’ve got six national championship flags out there,” Cosgrove said. “If we don’t play a perfect football game, or close to it, this is what you end up with.”

Georgia Southern (11-2), which entertains Western Kentucky in Saturday’s semifinals, took advantage of a terrific offensive line and a talented stable of backs to run through and around the UMaine defense.

Fullback Jermaine Austin amassed 143 yards on 27 carries and quarterback Chaz Williams netted 106 yards on 20 attempts, while slotbacks Zzream Wladen and Mark Myers combined for 155 more yards.

“They were real fast,” said Bears senior captain Brendan Curry. “They run a tricky offense and you stop one thing, [and] they come back at you with another thing.”

UMaine didn’t allow GSU to break too many big plays, but the hosts were efficient. The Eagles hurt the Bears with their fullback dive and some well-timed pitch plays to the outside.

“You’ve got to play disciplined defense and we didn’t play disciplined defense every down,” said senior captain Stephen Cooper, who led the Bears with 11 tackles. “We have no excuses. We played our hearts out and Georgia Southern was the better team today.”

UMaine turned in a steady but unspectacular offensive effort. Sophomore Marcus Williams powered his way to 113 yards on 23 carries and QB Jon Meczywor passed for 99 yards, but the Bears were unable to convert in some key situations.

“You always look for the big play, but there were little things open that we missed… I missed,” said Meczywor, whose 34-yard scoring pass to Kevin McMahan on the final play of the first quarter accounted for UMaine’s only points.

Trailing 17-7, UMaine nearly made the break it needed on the second play of the fourth quarter.

GSU’s Williams ran left on an option play, but was hit by UMaine’s Rob Kierstead. The senior linebacker stripped the ball away from Williams and Maine’s Joan Quezada recovered inside the GSU 20-yard line.

A game official ruled Williams had thrown an incomplete forward pass.

“It could have been a fumble or it could have been a forward pass,” Williams said. “… the defender pulled my shoulder and when I tried to jerk away from him the ball just went forward and the referee made a call in our favor.”

One second, the Bears were elated, believing they had a golden chance to score. The next moment, the Eagles were back in punt formation.

“I need to get myself educated, I guess, on what a forward pass is,” said Cosgrove, who didn’t blast the officials but described the emotional effect of the play.

“It changed the whole game,” Cosgrove said. “Something that we desperately needed was a turnover. We got one … I thought.”

On the ensuing punt, the ball hit the ground, bounced off the leg of UMaine coverage man Maurice Garlic, and was recovered by GSU at the UM 45. The Eagles cashed in, scoring nine plays later on Williams’ 2-yard keeper. That made it 24-7 with 9:54 to play.

“I think we kind of got the rough end of the stick on that one,” Meczywor said. “You’re still in the game, but when a call like that doesn’t go your way and then they go and score like that, it’s rough.”

UMaine made a final threat, but was stopped, and GSU scored one more time to put the game out of reach.

Seniors Kierstead and Dave Cusano made eight and seven tackles, respectively, for UMaine. David Young and Freddy Pesqueira posted seven each for the Eagles.

Georgia Southern grabbed a 7-0 lead with 4:28 left in the first quarter. Walden took a pitch and raced around the left corner 23 yards for a score to cap a five-play, 71-yard drive.

UMaine answered with its best march of the day, covering 72 yards in 10 plays. Christian Pereira’s leaping catch of a third-down pass helped pave the way for Meczywor’s 34-yard scoring strike to McMahan in the end zone.

“I was awful proud of our defense,” said GSU coach Mike Sewak. “I think you play the game with [fast] feet and our guys moved their feet a lot.”

GSU took the lead for good with a 78-yard drive late in the first half. The Eagles mixed up their fullback give and outside toss, with Austin going 7 yards for a TD with 1:03 left.

The Bears threatened on their first possession of the second half, but a delay of game penalty at the GSU-17 eventually led to a 41-yard field-goal attempt by Mike Mellow, who missed wide right.

“We got some things going on offense, but we didn’t finish,” Cosgrove said.

The Eagles responded with a 36-yard field goal by Scott Shelton that made it 17-7.

EAGLES 31, BLACK BEARS 7

Maine (11-3) 7 0 0 0 ? 7

Ga. Southern (11-2) 7 7 3 14 ? 31

GSU ? Walden 23 run (Shelton kick)

UM ? McMahan 34 pass from Meczywor (Mellow kick)

GSU ? Austin 7 run (Shelton kick)

GSU ? Shelton 36 field goal

GSU ? Williams 2 run (Shelton kick)

GSU ? Williams 5 run (Shelton kick)

Maine GSU

First downs 18 22

Rushing att.-yards 40-162 63-416

Passing comp.-att. 8-22 1-3

Passing yards 99 40

Total yards 261 456

Punts-avg. 5-39.8 4-29.0

Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-0

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 6-35 8-56

Rushing

Maine: Williams 23-113, Momah 7-36, Meczywor 8-9, Gelsomino 1-4, Legree 1-0; GSU: Austin 27-143, Williams 20-106, Walden 7-82, Myers 8-73, Davis 1-12

Passing

Maine: Meczywor 8-22-1-99; GSU: Williams 1-3-1-40

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 4-38, Gelsomino 2-24, McMahan 1-34, Waller 1-3; GSU: Owens 1-40

A?6,707