Southern Defeats Texas Southern at Home

During the day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Southern Jaguars took on the Texas Southern Tigers in a good match up with talent on both sides of the ball. At the end of the game, Southern would end up victorious with a score of 26-10. This was not a high scoring game as other ones have been by southern, but it was a great contest and an entertaining game for all. The defenses on both teams played well this game, coming up with big plays that set the tone for the game.

The jaguars drove the ball down the field well during the first quarter, that was until there was about 2:30 left to play, then Howard was pressured by the defense and threw an interception to Moore of Texas Southern for a 73 yard score. That would be the only scoring in the first quarter. The only score was made by a defensive touchdown that resulted from an interception, but the jaguars made plenty of positive plays on offense during the quarter. Lenard Tillery added to that offense rushing for good yardage for many of those first quarter plays.

It did not take the jaguars long to answer that last touchdown made by Texas Southern in the first quarter. With just one minute played into the second quarter, Dillon Beard gained 19 yards on a pass from Howard, then Lenard Tillery did the rest as he ran the ball 3 yards to even the score at 7. A few minutes later, Texas southern would drive down the field in an attempt to regain the lead. They would have been successful until an interception was made by southern’s Epps to give the jaguars back the ball and avoid a touchdown by the tigers. Southern drove down the field making good plays both on the ground and through the air. Southern took 94 yards to get down the field after the interception that was made and a rushing touchdown was made by Edwards which gave southern the 14-7 lead.

14-7 would be the score at the end of the first half. Both bands played entertaining shows for all fans at the half. When play resumed for the third quarter, Texas Southern ran the ball down the field with a few good plays which ended up in a successful field goal attempt to make the score 14-10 with just a few minutes into the quarter. Later in the quarter, Texas Southern ran down the field all the way into the red zone. They seemed on the verge of a touchdown and taking the lead when Hurts of Texas Southern threw an interception and gave southern back the ball. This had southern avoiding yet another score by Texas Southern just like in the previous quarter. The score at the end of the third quarter would be 14-10 Southern.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, southern started in the red zone and were close to a touchdown. The jaguars had trouble getting the ball in the end zone due to good defense by Texas Southern. After a few plays Southern made a 28 yard field goal making the score at the beginning of the 4^th 17-10. The jaguar fans would cheer shortly after when Hurts of Texas Southern threw yet another interception to give the ball back to Southern. The jaguars would use that gift to score another touchdown which was made by Tillery. The field goal would be missed but the score would be 23-10 in the 4^th. During this short drive, Tillery would contribute to the touchdown and some of the plays that led to the score. Southern would eat out the clock as best as they could for the remainder of the fourth quarter, and would do just that. With one minute left in the game, Albuquerque would make a field goal to put the jaguars up 26-10.

The jaguars remain undefeated in the SWAC conference at this point and are directly behind Grambling State in the rankings. Southern travels to Prairie View A&M next week, then to Mississippi Valley State the following week. The final game would be against the Grambling tigers in the bayou classic, a game that many are looking forward to.

By: Phil Blanchard