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HOUSTON — Southern wrestled momentum away from Alcorn State early in the third quarter of the 2014 Toyota SWAC Championship Game.
However, the Braves took it way from the Jaguars late in the third quarter and put it in a stranglehold to hand Southern a 38-24 loss at NRG Stadium.
Alcorn State (10-3) denied Southern (9-4) the chance to claim the Black College National Championship, along with being the Southwestern Athletic Conference's first repeat champion since Grambling State won three-straight titles from 2000-2002.
The win gives Alcorn its first conference championship since sharing the title with Grambling in 1994 and its first outright conference title since 1992.
“No one likes to lose,” Jaguars head coach Dawson Odums said. “It's unfortunate that our guys had to experience this, but we had a great season. We just came up short today.”
Southern entered the second half facing a 24-10 deficit and starting the third quarter on its own 15. Quarterback Austin Howard began the drive with quick completions to Mike Jones and Willie Quinn to give the Jaguars a first down at the SU 27-yard line with at the 14:18 mark. Southern picked up a big play as Howard found Lenard Tillery in the flat, and Jones crack-backed Alcorn's Anthony Williams Jr. to help free up Tillery to race down the Southern sideline to the ASU 27 with 13:53 mark in the third quarter.
The Jaguars capped the drive five plays later, as 11-yard Tyre Bracken run to the Alcorn 2-yard line helped set up Malcolm Crockett's 2-yard touchdown run. Crockett's TD run cut the Braves lead to 24-17 with 12:14 left in the quarter.
The Jaguars defense forced Alcorn to go three-and-out on the next drive, setting up a key special teams play. Mason Caesar blocked Haiden McCraney's punt — the first of two Jaguar blocked punts — and Dennis Craig scooped the ball up at the Braves 9-yard line and ran in for a score. The scoop-and-score and PAT tied the game at 24-24 with 10:31 left in the third quarter.
“We didn't have punt blocked all season. They did a really good job in that phase of the game,” Alcorn State head coach Jay Hopson said. “They definitely beat us in that phase of the game. I thought offensively and defensively we played really well, and that's what allowed us to overcome that.
The teams traded punts on their next possession before Alcorn got the ball back at its own 41 with 8:17 remaining in the third. An offside penalty on Southern gave the Braves a first-and-5 at the Jaguars' 43, and ASU quarterback John Gibbs Jr. connected with Billy Shed to get the Braves to the Southern 22-yard line with 6:49 left in the quarter.
Southern looked to stop the drive on third-and-7 at the Jaguars' 19, but cornerback Kevin King was flagged on pass interference. The penalty negated a Gibbs incomplete pass and gave Alcorn first-and-goal at the Southern 6 with 5:29 left in the quarter. Anthony Williams III scored on a 4-yard touchdown run two plays later, and McCraney's PAT gave the Braves a 31-24 lead with 4:55 left in the third quarter.
“Actually, we had the same thing happen to us (in last season's game against Southern),” Hopson said. “We had a couple of punts blocked and the next thing you know it's 24-24. It was almost kind of like déjà vu.
These guys just kept battling and wound up getting it done.”
Alcorn put together another scoring drive late in the third quarter. A nine-yard Arron Baker run on third-and-1 gave the Braves a fresh set of downs at the Braves 36 with 54 seconds left in the quarter. Gibbs followed it up with a 13-yard run to get near midfield with 39 seconds remaining in the third.
Southern stuffed Alcorn on the next two downs to open the fourth, forcing the Braves into a third-and-9 near midfield. Gibbs found Brandon Vessell along the Braves sideline, and Vessell broke a tackle before racing to a 51-yard touchdown connection. The pass play and PAT increased the Braves' lead to 38-24.
“They played better than us today, and they deserved to win the football game,” Odums said. That's how it be in championships.”
Southern had two chances to close the gap in the fourth. Caesar blocked another McCraney punt, and Anthony Clark recovered the ball at the Alcorn 22 with 9:52 remaining. However, Alcorn State dug its heels in, stuffing Crockett on fourth-and-1 at the Braves 13-yard line with 9:52 left in the game.
The Jaguars forced Alcorn to go three-and-out, and got the ball back at the Southern 41 with 6:51 left to play. Howard began engineering a drive, getting the Jaguars into the red zone with a 12-yard pass to Quinn before scrambling to the Alcorn 10 with 4:48 remaining.
Tillery rushed to the Alcorn 6-yard line to give the Jaguars a first-and-goal. Tillery nearly scored on the next play, but Deion Roberson stripped him of the ball as Tillery fought towards the goal line. Alcorn recovered the ball in the end zone with 4:30 left, all but cementing the Jaguars' hopes of winning.
“We had the ball on the 1-yard line going in, and we fumbled,” Odums said. “We had another fourth down deep in their territory. We didn't get it and you lose by 14. This game had the makings of coming down to a fantastic ending, but we didn't do enough to get it to that point.”
Quinn finished the game with 186 all-purpose yards, including an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown. Tillery picked up 55 rushing yards — ending his season with 1,196 rushing yards — and 60 receiving yards. Howard threw for 152 yards on 15-of-30 passing.
Gibbs led Alcorn with 245 passing yards and three scores on 20-of-30 passing while rushing for 132 yards — 101 coming in the first quarter.
