Roundup: Barr lifts Western Illinois to win

Quarterback Matt Barr’s second rushing touchdown of the game with 1:50 remaining gave Western Illinois a 17-10 victory over Coastal Carolina on Saturday in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs at Conway, S.C.

Barr’s 5-yard winning score came three plays after he threw a 38-yard pass to Bryce Flowers moving the ball to the Coastal Carolina 7-yard line.

The Chanticleers (6-6), who finished in a three-way tie for the Big South Conference title, then drove to the Western Illinois 4 – aided by two major penalties – before Kieron James picked off a pass by Zach MacDowall.

MacDowall was intercepted four times in the game, and Coastal Carolina also lost a fumble. Western Illinois was intercepted twice.

The Leathernecks (8-4), who finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference, will play at top-seeded Appalachian State next Saturday.

North Dakota State 43, Robert Morris 17: At Fargo, N.D., Brock Jensen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Bison (8-4) earned a victory over the Colonials (8-3) in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

D.J. McNorton ran 27 times for 110 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 110 yards and a score for North Dakota, which plays at Montana State next Saturday.

Robert Morris, making its first appearance in the FCS playoffs, led 7-6 at halftime before Jensen, a redshirt freshman, hit on a pair of scoring passes in the third quarter.

Jensen was 10 for 24 for a North Dakota State playoff-record 229 yards and the Bison rolled up 482 yards of total offense.

Georgia Southern 41, South Carolina State 16: At Statesboro, Ga., the Eagles lost starting quarterback Jaybo Shaw to injury in the first quarter, but it didn’t matter as Georgia Southern (8-4) routed the Bulldogs (9-3) in a first-round FCS playoff game.

Georgia Southern ran for 323 yards on 77 carries against a defense that had been giving up only 70.4 yards per game on the ground, best in the FCS. The Eagles, who kept possession for 41:40, will play at No. 2 seed William & Mary next Saturday.

Georgia Southern scored two safeties off mishandled kickoffs and returned a fumble for a touchdown.

The Bulldogs lost in the first round for the third straight year.

Lehigh 14, Northern Iowa 7: At Cedar Falls, Iowa, Chris Lum threw a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes and the Mountain Hawks (10-2) defeated the Panthers (7-5) in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Lum completed 18 of 37 passes for 262 yards, and Ryan Spadola was on the receiving end of nine passes for 127 yards and a touchdown for Lehigh, which won its eighth straight game.

The Mountain Hawks advance to play at Delaware, which had a first-round bye.

Quarterback Tirrell Rennie scored a rushing touchdown for Northern Iowa, but kicker Billy Hallgren missed three field goals.