HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – On a night when Marshall Football honored the coal industry in the state of West Virginia with helmet decals, it was the kid from Coal City who scored the game-winner to clinch a win for the Herd.

Marshall running back Judah Price scored on a 4-yard run with 1:49 left in the game as the Thundering Herd earned a 20-13 victory over South Alabama in front of 21,904 fans and a national TV audience on Tuesday night.

"That's just the coal way," Price said after the win. "Hard-working people, just getting the job done. That's what we did – we got the job done tonight."

With the win, Marshall moved to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt Conference action.

Price's score capped a 75-yard final drive in which the Herd earned all its yardage on the ground, using its offensive line and the rushing threat in the quarterback run game to move the ball down the field.

Starting quarterback Zion Turner thought he scored on a 75-yard run early in the drive, but a holding penalty called the play back and left Turner down temporarily.

Undaunted, backup quarterback Khalil Wilkins came in and ripped off rushing gains of 19, 22 and 14 yards prior to Price's game-winner as the offensive line won the fourth quarter battle up front.

"We have the utmost confidence in Khalil and his abilities, and we know what he can do," Turner said. "When I saw him go in the game and they took me to the medical tent, I was in the tent trying to get right and I just heard the crowd going wild. I knew Khalil ran that ball. He's such an exciting player. When he gets the ball, it's fun to watch. It really is."

Wilkins said his focus was on finishing that drive to pick up Turner and the rest of his teammates so they could celebrate a victory.

"I see the work that everybody on our team puts in, so when you see that, it makes you want to go 10 times harder for them," Wilkins said. "Zion had a great run, and I don't know if it was the turf monster or what, but I saw him get up slow. The loyalty and the love I have for him and I know my brothers have got for him, we wanted to go finish it."

While the offense helped put the game away, this win belonged to the defense, who limited a vaunted South Alabama attack that was scoring 54 points per game in Sun Belt play to just one touchdown on the evening.

The game's biggest stop came in the final two minutes after Price's touchdown run with South Alabama looking to knot the game up with a touchdown.

Facing a third-and-1, Marshall cornerback Brayden Hall made an open-field tackle on a pass in the flat that went for a four-yard loss to force fourth down and the Herd defense then got pressure on South Alabama quarterback Jared Hollins off the edge to force an incompletion, setting off a celebration on the Herd sidelines.

Hollins finished the game just 12 of 33 passing with an interception as the Herd defense stood tall.

"I'm just so proud of this defense because we'd been struggling," Marshall head coach Tony Gibson said. "Numbers don't lie and we did a deep dive in the half-bye week we had and challenged our guys. The message was, 'Do your job!' We did that tonight."

The Jaguars entered the night No. 6 in the nation in turnover margin, but Marshall won that battle by taking care of the football offensively and limiting big plays defensively while also getting the game's lone turnover – an interception by defensive end Cole Funderburk on a diving snag following a pass breakup from Charles McCartherens.

Funderburk's pick came with the game tied at 6-all in the third quarter, and Marshall quickly turned it into a touchdown following a 6-play, 55-yard drive capped off by Turner's 3-yard dive into the end zone – the game's first touchdown at the 3:25 mark of the third quarter.

Turner finished the game 21 of 33 passing for 181 yards while rushing for another 45 yards and a score. Wilkins led all rushers with 69 yards and also had a 35-yard kickoff return.

Defensively, Daytione Smith led the Herd with nine tackles while true freshman Tristan Lester made seven tackles and had a pass breakup in his first start with the Herd. Kelvon McBride also had four tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and a sack-fumble in the win.

Marshall now takes this weekend off before preparing for its next contest – a Halloween day contest at 1 p.m. on Oct. 31 at Old Dominion.