Injuries mount as JSU defeats SU 32-26

In the wake of Jackson State coach Rick Comegy’s statements toward Southern University, the coach escaped with a 32-26 victory over the Jaguars Saturday at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
Southern (5-2, 3-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) lost starters Bryant Lee (Right Ankle Sprain), Gerard Landry (Left Ankle Sprain) and Cory Ray (Dislocated Shoulder) to injury in the game’s second half.
“We’re getting down into the part of the season when injuries start to occur,” said Southern head coach Pete Richardson. “This is a tough loss for us, we made some mistakes and I take my hat off to them.”
Unlike last week, Southern got off to a decent start offensively, scoring on a two play, 46-yard drive that only took 17 seconds off the clock.
But similar to last week, the defense looked out of character as they gave up 489 yards total offense. Senior quarterback Jimmy Oliver led the way going 21-of-31 for 308 yards and three touchdowns. Oliver also threw three interceptions. Also, junior running back Erik Haw anchored the Tiger backfield with 23 carries for 144 yards. Jackson State (4-2, 4-0) never scored a rushing touchdown, but their sophomore kicker Eric Perri converted on three field goals.
“We just have to keep working,” said Southern defensive coordinator Terrence Graves. “We gave up some plays, but that’s what’s going to happen. When you make mistakes teams are going to capitalize on them but we have to make up for the things we can control.”
“We have to sharpen up and make sure we’re taking care of our responsibilities,” Graves said. “When we do that we’ll be fine.”
Southern on the other hand lost almost the majority of its offense when Lee and Landry left the game in the third quarter with ankle sprains. The Jaguars failed to score a point in the third and didn’t score again until Matthews connected with senior wide receiver Nick Benjamin on a 22-yards touchdown pass. The score brought Southern within four of JSU, 30-26.
“We’re in great shape,” said Comegy. “This is the first all year we’ve dominated the second half. I’m glad we were able to do that because we have some good, strong running backs. We called some good plays that kept them off balance that really kept us on the field. I was really happy with some of the offensive calls.”
But on Southern’s following drive, Matthews was ruled sacked in the end zone by JSU sophomore defensive end Sam Washington as he threw the ball out of bounds. The score put JSU ahead 32-26 with 1:03 seconds remaining. They never looked back from there.
“We just didn’t execute the play,” said Matthews. “They gave great pressure up front and that’s what led to the safety. We had a good rally on one drive and we thought we would get the ball back with a great amount of time, but we didn’t.”
“We have to go back to practice and continue to build because we’re not out of it,” said senior defensive back Glenn Bell. “This is another bump in the road; we just have to go forward from here. Coming into the game we knew we were low on numbers so we had to go out with the people have. We took so injuries tonight but we have to go forward.”
Southern led at half, 20-17 on three Bryant Lee scores. Lee was 18 of 23 for 245 yards and three touchdowns. Redshirt sophomore Clevan White led the way with seven receptions for 102 yards, while Landry had five receptions for 54 yards and two touchdowns and running back Darren Coates had four catches for 81 yards and one touchdown.
The Jaguars registered 261 yards of total offense with 250 coming through the air. Similar to the passing game, Lee also led the way rushing the ball. He carried five times for 22 yards. Coates only rushed for six yards on four carries. Southern also had nine first downs and were two of eight on third down conversions.
Jarmaul George led the Jaguar defense with six first half tackles, while Glenn Bell and Dwayne Charles had five each. Bell also had one tackle for loss.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Warren Matthews started the game for the Jaguars as they went on a quick three and out drive. He was one of one for five yards. On the next drive Lee entered the game completing a pass to Landry on a screen play, but that drive ended in a three and out as well.
On the following drive JSU went on a nine-play 79-yard drive capped by an eight-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Oliver to Jaymar Johnson. The score put the Tigers ahead, 7-0.
At the end of the quarter Lee was eight of eight for 94 yards and a touchdown to Darren Coates. The score came on a 31-yard pass from Lee to Coates. The drive spanned two plays and 46 yards as Southern scored in 17 seconds.
The game was tied at seven at the end of the quarter.
“We have to come back next week and work hard in practice to correct the mistakes we made this game,” said George. “It’s hard to lose this way but I’m a senior. It’s my last year and I want to go out strong. This is just another bump, we just have to come out and get better.”
“I expect us to work really hard in practice in preparation for next week’s game, play 60 minutes and come out with a victory.”