Rattlers halt Jaguars 4-game win streak

The best part of Southern’s 52-49 loss to Florida A&M Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium was that the game did not count toward the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings.
Other than that, there were no goods for SU to take away from the defeat.
Sure, the Jaguars (4-3) out gained the Rattlers (5-2) 523 to 472 and quarterback Bryant Lee threw for a career best 407 yards with three touchdowns and one interception on 25-of-45 pass attempts.
But the Jaguars’ four-game winning streak came to an abrupt end amongst the chaos.
“We played a good football team, we just came up short,” SU coach Pete Richardson said.
As the shining star in a high scoring shootout, Lee also led the SU run game totaling 76 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries.
“I can’t say enough about B. Lee,” SU receiver Del Roberts said. “He does it week in and week out, whether it’s throwing or running the football. He just does a great job.”
Lee hit nine different receivers, throwing each touchdown to someone different.
In a hard fought effort, Roberts paced the SU receiving corps with four receptions for a season high 176 yards and one touchdown.
He almost came within a yard of scoring another which would have give SU a 55-52 lead with 3:38 remaining, but fumbled the ball away as he fell forward into the end zone.
“It felt good, it’s always good to practice hard all week and perform great,” Roberts said. “That’s all I try to do. It just hurts that I didn’t make that play at the end.”
There were six lead changes in the game, with FAMU accounting for five before finally stretching its lead to 10 when running back Kevin Elliott hit former Kentucky transfer Curtis Pulley on a 41-yard flea flicker pass that went for a touchdown.
The score put FAMU ahead 45-35 and paced the Rattlers down the stretch as SU attempted its final comeback.
“They got some good athletes,” Richardson said. “We just didn’t capitalize.”
The Rattlers’ defense which coughed up a 10 point halftime lead (31-21), allowed SU 14 unanswered points to start the second half.
But then came a 66-yard Leroy Vann punt returned for a touchdown and two more Rattler fourth quarter touchdowns followed.
SU trailed 31-21 halftime, only the second time this season Southern was behind at the half. SU last trailed at half 3-0 at Alcorn State Sept. 27. and a 38-3 deficit at Houston in the season opener.
“It’s kind of bittersweet knowing that my home team came in here and took us out,” Roberts said. “We just have to bounce back and keep going.”