By Jim O'Hara

ROME, Ga. – Taking advantage of what has been hurt the Shorter Hawks all season, the visiting Delta State Statesmen converted three fumbles into touchdown, two of them in the opening minutes of the second half, to hand the Hawks a 38-17 Gulf South Conference defeat Thursday night at Barron Stadium and keep Shorter still searching for its first win of the season.

The loss drops the Hawks to 0-8 for the year and 0-5 in the conference, heading into a non-conference road matchup on Saturday, Nov. 2 when they head to Atlanta for their first-ever meeting with Clark-Atlanta.

Shorter ended the game rolling up 372 yards of offense, 278 on the ground with senior Roderick Jones leading the team rushing for 78 yards on nine carries, while junior quarterback Eric Dodson ran for 72 yards on 18 totes and also completed 11 of 15 passes for 136 yards. Seniors Bradley Moon and Kirk Wilson had a touchdown each.

The Statesmen (5-2, 3-1) were paced by quarterback Tyler Sullivan, who passed for 214 yards by completing 22 of 28 passes – one of those a touchdown – and rushed for another touchdown as Delta State spread the TD rushing wealth around with Justin McArthur, Timothy Foy and Richard Freelon also reaching the end zone.

What has plagued Shorter all year – turnovers – hit home team early and was a sign of things to come when the Hawks took the opening kickoff to the Delta State 31 only to see the Statesmen recover a Dodson fumble.

The Statesmen took advantage of the miscue and promptly converted it into points when DSU covered 69 yards on 12 plays with the last one resulting in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Sullivan to Reed Faulkner. Vince Sciorrotta hit the first of five extra points.

Field position led to DSU's second touchdown of the opening quarter when the Statesmen set up shop at the Hawks' 36 following a defensive stand and short punt and four plays later made it 14-0 when McArthur broke into the end zone from three yards out with 48 seconds to go in the opening period.

The Hawks, however, finally settled down and on a drive that began late in the first period and continued into the second stanza, Shorter marched 78 yards on 17 plays to cut DSU's lead in half when Moon scored on a 4-yard run and Kenny Langford added the point after.

That score wound up being the final points of the first half as neither team could mount a threat.

But when the second half began, what started as a low-scoring game heated up with the Statesmen scoring two quick touchdowns in the opening five minutes thanks to two more Shorter fumbles.

The first came after the Hawks' defense made a stand at their own 32 and forced DSU to turn over the ball on downs, but on the first play following the exchange of possession Shorter fumbled the away on a the snap giving the Statesmen the ball.

Two plays Delta State made it 21-7 when Feelon scored on a 7-yard run and on the ensuing kick-off got the ball back when the Hawks put the ball on the ground again on the return with the Statesmen setting up shop at the Shorter 20. Three plays later Sullivan rambled into the end zone from two-yards out and with 11:18 remaining in the third quarter Delta took control with a 28-7 advantage.

The Hawks were able to respond on their next series, marching to the Delta State 23 where Guy Hunt split the uprights from 40-yards out, the longest of his career, to cut the Statesmen's lead to 28-10 with 6:51 to go in the period, but Sciorrotta matched the boot with 39 seconds to go in the quarter by nailing a 25-yard FG to maintain his team's comfortable lead, 31-10.

The two teams swapped touchdowns in the final quarter with Shorter scoring on a 23-yard run just over two minutes into the period and two minutes later Delta State capped the scoring when Foy scored from five yards out.

The Hawks' trip to Clark-Atlanta will be the first of three road games that will close out what has been a frustrating season. Shorter plays its final GSC contest against conference leader West Alabama in Livingston, Ala., on Nov. 9 and heads to LaGrange for the season finale on Nov. 14 squaring off against non-conference foe Point University.