Jaguars Win: Top Fort Valley

This past Saturday on The Bluff, the Southern Jaguars entered their third non-conference game of the season against Division II Fort Valley State Wildcats. After a hard-fought loss against Alcorn State last week, Southern’s main goal was breaking the losing streak.
In the first quarter, the Jaguar offense came out strong scoring two of the Jags’ first three touchdowns. The Jaguars struck quickly with a trick play involving wide receiver (WR) Cameron Mackey, resulting in a 62 – yard touchdown.
Southern scored another touchdown by way of running back (RB) Jamarqueza Mims, who caught a 7-yard passing touchdown. The third and final touchdown came from a punt return brought back by cornerback, Danny Johnson.
Under the helm of Austin Howard, Southern came out clicking on all cylinders, having 158 total yards in the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, Howard leaves the game limping, from a slight Achilles pull.
“He can see that his timing is off, he’s a little rusty because he missed a lot of time,” Odums said. “I think he’s going to get that timing back this week and we’re going to try and see if he can be out there a little bit more,” he continued.
Coach Odums also stated that he will be able to play during the homecoming game against Alabama A&M, but until then freshman QB, John Lampley, was placed into the game to relieve Howard of his duties.
The defense came out a bit sluggish in the first half, allowing their opponents to drive down the field scoring a touchdown on their second possession of the game. The Wildcats did not score again until early in the second quarter, with a five play 21-yard scoring drive.
At the end of the half, Southern led the game 14-21 with a total of 207 yards of offense, while the defense allowed their opponents to have 128 yards of total offense.
The Jags began the second half by kicking the ball off to Fort Valley State, stopping their offense on their first possession and forcing the Wildcats to punt.
On the ensuing possession, John Lampley gave us a glimpse of his speed with a long run early in the third quarter, but it was called back, because of a holding penalty. The Jags were then forced to kick a field goal from their own 45-yard line.
The Jags’ kicker, Caesar Barajas, nailed the kick giving the Jags the only score of the third quarter and increased the Jags’ lead, making the score 14-24.
In the beginning of the 4th quarter with 10:03 left, the Dog-Day defense blocked a field goal attempt and took control inside their own red zone.
John Lampley rushed 26 yards for his first career touchdown and led Southern to victory against Fort Valley (14-31).
When asked about the win, Odums responded with, “Any time you win, it’s great. . .we might not have played as good as we would’ve liked to have played, but it was a lot of penalties that kept the flow of the game from being smooth.”
For this week’s homecoming game, the Jags will take on Alabama A&M at A.W. Mumford Stadium Saturday at 6:00 pm.