Unmatched season

STATESBORO, Ga. --- Some compared it to a perfect game in baseball. The obvious was left unsaid as something special grew.

For Georgia Southern, the final pitch was the final second ticking off Paulson Stadium's scoreboard after a 37-34 victory over Stephen F. Austin in the Division I-AA national championship game 20 years ago.

It was time to celebrate with 25,725 friends -- Georgia Southern had its perfect football season.

"It doesn't do any good to go 14-1," said Raymond Gross about putting the last touches on a season that still remains unmatched in the school's storied program.

It was the first of two consecutive championships engineered by the Eagles quarterback, now an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman.

Georgia Southern won its third title for legendary coach Erk Russell, who retired after the 1989 season and passed away before the 2006 season.

The Eagles added three more national championships -- one under Tim Stowers in 1990 and two directed by Paul Johnson in 1999 and 2000.

But no one beat Georgia Southern in 1989 and the school solidified its reign of dominance in Division I-AA despite restarting its football program only seven years earlier.

Inside the locker room, above the door the players walked through every day on the way to practice, a sign read, "Try your best, you'll be glad you did."

"I guess everything that happened that season has been covered," Gross said. "It was a moment in time when everything went right."

An 11-0 regular season concluded when former Westside star Joe Ross ran for 280 yards in a 63-31 win over Marshall.

The Eagles topped Villanova, Middle Tennessee State and Montana to advance to the title game.

Against Stephen F. Austin, Ross finished with 152 yards and a touchdown despite playing with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Reach Donald Heath at donald.heath@morris.com.