‘Spinks Jinx’ dooms Jaguars

 
After defeating Grambling State in week one in the Port City Classic, Alcorn State can be considered Louisiana state champions with their victory over Southern 20-17 last Saturday.
 Southern (2-3, 1-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) coming off a two game winning streak over rivals Jackson State and Florida A&M, but when SU came to Jack Spinks Stadium the Braves out played the Jaguars.
 ”It was a tough loss I take my hat off to those guys at Alcorn their team performed very well and played very hard we got down in that game 14 to nothing, and we battled back to take the lead but we just didn’t make enough plays in the end to finish,” interim head coach Dawson Odums said.
A blocked field goal on the Jags second possession stalled the Jaguar offense from scoring any points until the second half.
 A drive later, Alcorn State (2-4, 2-2 SWAC) scored the games first points going 81-yards on 13 plays when running back Jordan Payne scored from two yards out.
The Braves went into halftime with the lonely touchdown lead.
When the second half came around ASU went an impressive 95 yards on 10 plays and scored when Quarterback John Gibbs connected with wide receiver Joe Price for a 38-yard-score.
Down 14-0 in the third quarter with 5:20 left in the quarter the Jaguars finally got themselves on the board when Quarterback Dray Joseph connected with wide receiver Mike Berry for an 80-yard touchdown Berry lead the Jags with four receptions for 107 yards. 
SU tied the game at the end of the third quarter when cornerback Virgil Williams, Football Championship Subdivision leader in return yards, scored on an electrifying 50-yard punt return where Williams somehow kept his knee from touching the turf despite being tackled.
In the fourth quarter the Jaguars took the lead for the first time when freshman kicker Greg Pittman made a 33-yard field goal with 10:47 left.
Two drives later with less than seven minutes remaining in the game, Alcorn State went 66 yards on 10 plays and scored with 38-seconds left on the clock, Southern could not answer giving the Braves their second win of the season.
“Some adversity struck throughout the third and early fourth and we just made some mental and a few bad throws the kids responded in the fourth quarter and did a good job in that last drive and pulled out the win,” said Alcorn State head coach Jay Hopson.
Despite the loss the Jaguars are still in second place in the SWAC Western Division behind Arkansas Pine Bluff (4-2, 3-1 SWAC), and are still in the driver’s seat to make a run for the SWAC title.
 ”We just got to find a way to make execution better on offense and we got to be able to come up with stops on defense, and we got to play better on special teams,” Odums said “Overall we competed, and we tried to overcome a lot of mistakes that we made.”
The Jaguars homecoming against Texas Southern (1-5, 1-3 SWAC) will be a key game in determining their title hopes.