Sunday, September 16, 2007

Deception aids Southern win


By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

Had there been time, Southern would have tried a 29-yard Josh Duran field goal.

But the clock ran out on the third quarter, and as the teams changed sides, SU coach Pete Richardson called for the play his team had practiced all week: a fake, with holder Nick Benjamin connecting with tight end Evan Alexander for a 12-yard touchdown pass.

That play, combined with stout defense, gave SU a cushion to beat Prairie View 12-2 Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium.

The touchdown pass was the first for Benjamin since 2002 as a quarterback at WS Neal High in East Brewton, Ala.

Benjamin had never thrown a pass, let alone for a score, at Southern.

“Coach really thought I could step up and make that throw,” Benjamin said. “I knew I had to do that for the team, so that’s what I did.”

Some factors for SU to consider: Duran, a true freshman, is 5-for-8 on PATs and 1-for-2 on field-goal tries this season. ... The field position change meant Duran would have been kicking into a brisk breeze. ... PV had blocked two punts and a field-goal try the week before. ... And PV had come strong so far Saturday night.

“We practiced on that all week,” Richardson said. “I knew they were going on an all-out block. That’s what they had been doing all the time, so we took a chance.”

So, Richardson told Benjamin of the change.

“When I went over, I kind of figured he’d change the call,” Benjamin said. “But when he did, it really brought it to realization it was really about to happen. I had to get my mind right. I knew I had to step up and make the throw in order to put some points on the board.”


No butterflies?
“Naaaah,” Benjamin said.
No problem.
Alexander, lined up on the right side, released at the snap. That meant that, if PV was already coming strong, that side, where Benjamin now was as he rolled, was more vulnerable.

Said Benjamin, “There was some pressure (coming), but it just went back to the old days: avoid the pressure and make the throw.”

Said Alexander, “It was a little pop pass. We knew they were going to be rushing real hard off my side. We had watched film. We had practiced it all week. I just released off my line and faded to the back of the end zone.”

Alexander created enough separation and the ball was on target.

“They blitzed hard, and I was wide-open in the back of the end zone,” Alexander said. “It was planned the whole time.”

The gutsy call extended Southern’s lead from a thin 6-0 (a missed extra point) to 12-0 (a failed two-point conversion pass) with 14:55 to play.

Here’s some weirdness. Southern scored on the first play of the fourth quarter against Prairie View for the second straight season.

But unlike the 20-6 lead on Kendall Addison’s 5-yard touchdown run with 14:54 remaining in a 26-23 overtime loss a year ago, the Jaguars made this 12-0 lead stand.

“We called it,” PV coach Henry Frazier III said. “We said, ‘Watch the fake.’ Their guy missed the extra point. They were kicking into the wind, and we said, ‘It’s a fake.’ We called it out and we didn’t make the play. We didn’t execute.”
How They Scored: SU-PVU

Second quarter

SOUTHERN: Quarterback Bryant Lee, with Prairie View blitzing, fires a 15-yard touchdown pass to Gerard Landry with 0:52 left in the first half (kick failed). DRIVE: 56 yards in eight plays. TIME OF POSSESSION: 3:00. KEY PLAY: Lee starts the march with a 17-yard pass to Juamorris Stewart. SOUTHERN 6, PRAIRIE VIEW 0.
Fourth quarter

SOUTHERN: On a fake field-goal try, holder Nick Benjamin rolls right and flips a 12-yard touchdown pass to Evan Alexander, a tight end with 14:55 left in the game (pass failed). DRIVE: 59 yards in seven plays. TIME OF POSSESSION: 3:09. KEY PLAYS: Kendrick Smith breaks free for gains of 13 and 9 yards and Prairie View is flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct as two defenders simulate cramps just as SU gets to the line of scrimmage.
SOUTHERN 12, PRAIRIE VIEW 0.

PRAIRIE VIEW: Safety with 12:39 remaining in the game. Southern is called for holding in the end zone during a Josh Duran punt.
SOUTHERN 12, PRAIRIE VIEW 2.

Final score: Southern 12, Prairie View 2.
Attendance: 16,372.

Next game: Southern hosts Tennessee State at 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium.

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