Georgia Southern Grabs I-AA

December 18, 1999 / 6:09 PM EST / CBS/AP

Georgia Southern waited a year to redeem itself in the Division I-AA championship. Once the game started, the Eagles ended the suspense by halftime.

Adrian Peterson rushed for a record 247 yards in 25 carries and scored three touchdowns as Georgia Southern scored 28 unanswered points in the second quarter and routed Youngstown State 59-24 Saturday, becoming the first team to win five I-AA titles.

The Eagles (13-2) missed a chance at a championship last year when they turned the ball over seven times in losing to Massachusetts. They never let the ball out of their hands Saturday except to hand it to an official as they scored on their first six possessions.

"A year ago, we didn't play as well as we would've liked in this game, and we made a commitment in the locker room," said Georgia Southern's Paul Johnson, who now has his first national title as a coach.

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"I'm not sure anyone realizes how tough it is to get back in this game. They did all that was asked, worked their tails off and they didn't leave much doubt today."

It's the first title since 1990 for Georgia Southern, which also won I-AA titles in 1985, 1986 and 1989.

Youngstown State (12-3) had not lost to Georgia Southern in three previous games, but the Eagles had Peterson on their side Saturday.

The Walter Payton Award winner scored on runs of 3, 22 and 1 yards. The sophomore now has topped 200 yards rushing 11 times in his short career, and he bettered the 244 yards rushing by Massachusetts' Marcel Shipp in last year's title game.

"Adrian is a great running back," Penguins linebacker David Vecchione said. "He's a load. He runs nonstop. You can't stick an arm out there because he's going to break right through it."

Youngstown State came in with a defense that had been giving up just 166 yards rushing per game. It wasn't enough against I-AA's best rushing offense. The Eagles got 210 of their 638 yards rushing in the second quarter and finished with 655 yards of offense compared to 338 for Youngstown Qtiue.

"We have historically been pretty good offensively," Johnson said. "We feel like with what we d scheme-wise ..., if we do it correctly, people have a hard time having enough people to stop us."

Vecchione pointed out that the Eagles got several big plays in which tacklers didn't even touch the runner until 20 yards downfield.

Once Youngstown State tried to play catch-up, the Eagles stepped up with seven sacks. Youngstown State coach Jim Tressel, who has more playoff victories than any other I-AA coach, said the Eagles deserved to win.

"Top to bottom, I don't see any weaknesses, so I'm sure it matches up to any championship team," Tressel said.

The Penguins kept pace with Georgia Southern by scoring on their first two drives. Then Peterson got Georgia Southern going. His first TD put the Eagles ahead to stay at 14-10 with 10:25 left in the second quarter.

Bennie Cunningham added a 57-yard TD, and Peterson turned in a highlight run as he broke through six tackles before falling down on a 58-yard gain. He scored two plays later for a 31-14 lead with 5:27 left.

Anthony Williams padded the Eagles' lead to 38-14 by returning a punt 72 yards with 2:09 remaining. Cunningham finished with 129 yards on four carries, and Greg Hill had 14 runs for 111 yards

Adrian Brown scored two touchdowns for Youngstown State and rushed for 160 yards on 22 carries.

It was a showdown between I-AA's two best teams. Youngstown State had won more games (100) than any other I-AA program this decade and Georgia Southern came in with more playoff victories than any other I-AA program. Each came in with four I-AA championships.