They were only 30 minutes away.
Despite all the trials and tribulations of this season: Southern being picked to finish 4th in the SWAC West to begin the year, Southern being 13.5 point underdogs going into this game, Southern being down their starting quarterback due to a concussion suffered at the end of the Bayou Classic. Despite all of that, Southern found themselves tied with juggernaut Jackson St at halftime, only one more half of football away from the SWAC Championship.
And then it all fell apart. After a first half that couldn’t have gone much better for the Jags, they had a 2nd half that you couldn’t have imagined even in a Southern fan’s worst nightmare. Jackson St won the game 41-13 after being tied 10-10 at halftime.
One of the big fears going into this game for Southern was the prospect of a bad start. Their first meeting saw Jackson St lead 20-0 at the end of the first quarter, so it came as a big surprise to see Southern tied with them 3-3 once the first quarter ended this time. The Jags defensive line was playing at an unbelievable level, forcing multiple negative plays to kill Tiger drives, and the Jags offense was playing solid complementary football. They milked the clock, changed up the tempo to further drives, and kept moving the drives. Zae Teasett hadn’t played in a few weeks, but returned to form in the 1st half, limiting mistakes and generating big plays through the air. His performance peaked with a rushing TD to finish a drive in the 2nd quarter, which actually gave Southern the lead late in the first half.
Southern had the lead with 2 minutes to go in the first half, but Jackson St then made a huge switch on offense that changed the trajectory of the game. They finally figured out that Southern defensive front with a QB change. Jacobian Morgan was subbed out for Zy McDonald, more of a dual-threat QB, who was able to start gashing the Southern defense on drive after drive. He led the two minute drill to score a game-tying TD drive to end the half, and then came out in the first drive of the 2nd half and took the lead with another TD drive. He finished the game 6/11 passing with 75 yds and a TD, and with 8 carries for 95 yards and a rushing TD.
After Jackson St scored to begin the 2nd half and take a 17-10 lead, we had the most important play of the game. A game is never lost on just one play, but if you had to pin the game turning on any one particular play, it would be this. Southern gets the ball for the first time in the 2nd half and Zae Teasett completes a pass over the middle to Tyler Kirkwood, who is hit as he is thrown. The ball is wrestled from his hands as he goes down, and the play is ruled a fumble. Jackson St recovers and gets the ball around midfield, who then drives down and kicks a field goal. Southern was up 10-3, and before they could take two more snaps on offense, they were down 20-10.
It never got any better from there. Southern’s offense continued to sputter, and Jackson St continued to gain momentum on offense with Zy McDonald under center. True to Southern form, Teasett was benched late in the game for Noah Bodden in an attempt to inject some life in the team, but nothing worked. McDonald broke the game open officially near the end of the 3rd quarter to make it a 3 score lead, and Jackson St never looked back.
Southern did add a field goal in the 4th quarter, but that was it. Jackson St just kept pouring it on, and a game that looked better for the Jags than their first meeting turned out with a much worse final outcome. Jackson St just kept scoring and everything kept going wrong the Southern, who finished the game with 4 turnovers. The most emblematic play in this nightmare 2nd half was this muffed punt, which set Jackson St up deep in Southern territory to score another one of their touchdowns.
It’s a bitter ending to a game that started with so much promise for Southern. They end up falling 41-13 in a blowout loss that could have been much better for the Jags, but everything just fell apart. Jackson St moves to 11-2 on the season and now are the SWAC Champions. They will play South Carolina St next week in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. Southern’s season is now over as they finish 8-5 on the year.
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