JACKSON, MS. -- The Southern University football team traveled north on I-55 for a Saturday afternoon matchup in front of a national audience on ESPN, where the Jaguars rolled past Jackson State 34-14 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.
John Lampley threw for 116 yards on 9-of-14 passing with one touchdown and rushed for 17 yards.
Ladarius Skelton was 6-of-11 for 64 yards and rushed for 77 yards and one touchdown.
Kicker
Cesar Barajas set a career-high with a 49-yard field goal, tight end
Ethan Howard led SU in receiving with 54 yards on four catches while
Jerodd Sims added 52 yards on five catches along with 79 rushing yards on 17 carriers.
Devon Benn added 75 yards on 18 carriers and two touchdowns.
Defensively SU was lead by,
Caleb Carter who recorded seven tackles,
Chase Foster recorded six tackles and
Adrian Rivers had four tackles.
Jordan Lewis finished the night with four tackles and two sacks. Bringing his sack total on the spring season to 8.5 sacks. The Jaguar defense held the Tigers to 309 total offensive yards and 66 rushing yards.
"I thought our guys played really well today," said Southern Head Coach
Dawson Odums. "We get better, that's the history of our program. It's no different whether it's the spring or fall. Our guys are finally getting to where they need to be at the right time of year. We played complete: good offense, defense and special teams, and we still left some points out there. The objective is to win and they checked that box."
Southern (4-1, 3-1 SWAC) got out to a quick start scoring on their first offensive drive of the game, when Benn found the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown taking the early 7-0 lead. Capped off by an 11 play, 70 yard drive. On the ensuing kickoff, Barajas executed a perfect onside kick that he recovered on the SU 47-yard line. Facing 2nd and 10, JSU intercepted Skelton's pass on the JSU 29 yard line.
Barajas 30-yard made field goal at the 12:43 mark in the second quarter put the Jaguars up 10-0.
Jackson State (3-2, 2-1 SWAC) got on the board 10-7, after Jones found Baldwin for 75-yard touchdown with 6:48 to play in the second quarter.
The Jaguars moved the ball up the field but a couple of penalties forced the SU to punt. The defense held the Tigers to three first downs but came up with two big sacks which forced JSU to punt.
Southern responded with a quick five-play, 54-yard march, set up by a 34-yard completion to Ethan Howard from Lampley. After two incompletion's facing 3rd down and 10 at the JSU 20 yard line, Lampley threw a 20-yard scoring pass to
Corey Williams putting Southern up 17-7 with :08 to play in the half.
Defense set to the tone on the second half kickoff, forcing a quick three in out to open up the third quarter. SU offense came out in the second half similar to their closing drive right before half, passing the ball around the field setting up a career-high 49 yard field goal from
Cesar Barajas extending SU lead 20-7 with 11:07 in the third quarter.
Southern extended its lead on a 20-yard
Devon Benn run that was set up by
Ladarius Skelton 33-yard and 5-yard runs, giving the Jaguars a 27-7 lead at the 4:21 mark.
JSU got a 18-yard completion for a touchdown, making it 27-14 with 14:55 remaining in the game.
Trading possessions back and forth, Southern's
Travien Benjamin sacked Jones for a nine yard loss setting up a 4th and 19 on the JSU 32 yard line. When
Kordell Caldwell broke through the line and blocked McGregor Punt recovering on JSU 2-yard line. Setting up Skelton's 2-yard touchdown run putting the Jaguars up 34-14.
Tamaurice Smith intercepted Jalen Jones pass on the Southern 20 yard line with 10:25 remaining in the game. SU was able to convert five first downs and 75 yards setting up a 2nd and goal victory formation taking a knee on the 2-yard line, running out the clock for their eight straight victory over Jackson State.
The Jaguars dominated time of possession 42:49 to JSU 17:11. SU racked up 474 offensive yards (180 passing and 294 rushing) while the Tigers finished with 309 total yards (243 passing and 66 rushing).
UP NEXT
Southern will be off this weekend due to Prairie View A&M postponement due to Covid-19 protocols within the PVAM program, but will return on Saturday, April 17, 2021 when the Jaguars travel to Shreveport, LA for the 47th Annual Bayou Classic taking on Grambling State University. Kickoff is set for 1:30 pm. on NBC Sports Network.
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www.gojagsports.com.
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