SWAC Football Round-Up

By Uba Okereke

Late TD Propels Southern Over Alabama State

Southern University defeated Alabama State 26-23 last Saturday afternoon in Montgomery, Ala.

The Hornets took an early 7-0 first quarter lead courtesy of a Tim Clark one-yard touchdown run. Southern responded with 12 straight points including two Manuel Canto field goals to take a five point lead at halftime.

J.P. Douglas increased the Jaguar lead to 19-7 in the third quarter with a five yard touchdown pass to Lee Doss.

Alabama State (7-3, 7-2 SWAC) rallied from the 19-7 deficit to take a 23-19 lead after a five-yard TD run by Clark with 3:07 remaining in the fourth quarter.

However, Southern (4-6, 4-4) won the game with a 10 play, 73-yard drive, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Brian McCann with only nine seconds left in the contest.

Douglas passed for 259 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for Southern.

Clark rushed for 92 yards for Alabama State who have lost two of the last three games.

Alabama A&M Win Streak Stops at Seven

Alabama A&M lost to Jackson State 34-6 last Saturday afternoon in Huntsville, Ala., snapping their seven game winning streak.

The Bulldogs (7-3, 6-2 SWAC) led 6-0 in the first quarter after kicker Chance Wilson made two field goals of 49 and 45 yards.

However, Casey Therriault led Jackson State on an impressive comeback. He connected with Renty Rollins on a seven-yard touchdown pass to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead. He then threw two more touchdowns of 30 and 67 yards to increase the lead to 21-6 at halftime.

Therriault threw his final touchdown pass to Rollins, his second receiving touchdown catch, for 15 yards. Jackson State led 28-6 at that point.

The Tigers (8-2, 6-2) racked up 547 yards of total offense including 428 from Therriault.

Deaunte Mason led Alabama A&M with 243 yards passing and had 11 carries for 33 yards.

Grambling Rallies in Fourth to Upend Texas Southern

Grambling defeated Texas Southern 29-25 last Saturday afternoon. It was one year ago that TSU rallied to defeat GSU in overtime en route to a SWAC West title.

The scoring was about even in the first half as Grambling led 14-7 with 1:09 left until halftime. Texas Southern’s Riko Smalls tied the score at 14 with a 34-yard pass to Richard Samuel as time expired.

Texas Southern (4-6, 2-6) increased the lead to 25-14 in the third quarter after Smalls found Samuel again for a 21 yard score.

Grambling (6-4, 5-3 SWAC) rallied in the fourth quarter with 15 straight points including the game-winning 34-yard touchdown catch by Mario Louis with 1:45 remaining in the game.

TSU drove the ball to the Grambling four-yard line with seconds remaining but the drive stalled after Smalls was sacked on third down and threw an incomplete pass on fourth down. D.J. Williams passed for 253 yards on 14 of 19 passes and three touchdowns.  

Smalls was 31 of 50 for 384 yards and three touchdowns for Texas Southern, who have lost their fourth straight game in which they had a lead in the third quarter or later.

Okereke is a contributing writer for Regal Black Men's Magazine, a publication dedicated to the African American community.