To put Southern’s 41-34 thriller of a comeback win over Tennessee State into perspective, look no further than the play that put Southern ahead for good.
Though wide receiver Del Roberts got pushed out of bounds by cornerback Ozzie Harrell along the right sideline, Roberts came back onto the field, hauled in a Bryant Lee pass and picked his way through the defense to complete a 48-yard touchdown.
“He pushed me out of bounds and I never gave up on the play. I kept going,” Roberts said. “That’s the way it works. &hellip I saw the ball the whole time and I had to find it, had to go get it.”
Roberts may just as well have been talking about his entire team.
Southern, showing relentlessness and resilience Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium, overcame a 21-point deficit in the final 36 minutes to overcome Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee State (2-2) and remain undefeated through four games this season.
“We have a lot of character on this team,” Southern wide receiver/holder Nick Benjamin said. “I feel like we’re building every week. We’re getting better every week, and we’re getting better as a whole, not individually.”
Photo: SU's Alvin Fosselman celebrates the Jaguars’ victory.Lee, a sophomore, threw for career highs of 305 yards and four touchdowns, with Roberts adding a career-best 110 yards and his first receiving score this season. Senior running back Darren Coates ran for 115 yards and a career-high two TDs while also catching his first career touchdown, a 31-yarder in the second quarter.
The Jaguars played without playmaker Gerard Landry, who was suspended for the first half after being ejected in the fourth quarter of a 12-2 win over Prairie View the week before, but Landry scored on his second catch, a 6-yarder in the third quarter. RaShon Jacobs, starting for Landry, had his first touchdown as a Jaguar.
“They’re playing hard,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “A lot of them are playing over their heads, but then the fever is starting to set in. They’ve got that tradition.”
For TSU, Javarris Williams ran for 107 yars and one TD on only 14 carries. And Antonio Heffner threw for 316 yards – even with just 13 completions – and three touchdowns, but his two interceptions came late in the fourth quarter as the Tigers tried to rally. He also fumbled on the final possession, at the TSU 15-yard line, with 1:45 to play.
“I don’t think there was any momentum swing,” TSU coach James Webster said. “The game was in doubt until the very end, until we fumbled the football at the end.
“We got up on them, and we relaxed on some things. And you can’t relax against a good football team. You just can’t do that.”
No momentum swing? Really?
Southern, once down 27-6 with 6:36 before halftime, outscored Tennessee State 35-7 the rest of the way.
“We had to bounce back,” Southern defensive tackle Dwayne Charles said. “We talked it up. We don’t have any fighting, any arguments. We’re a team, as one. We told (the secondary) to shake it off. Bad things happen. Good teams accomplish stuff when they can overcome the mistakes they make. And that’s what we did.”
The SU defense, mirroring the way they responded after giving up two long touchdowns to Florida A&M in the season opener, clamped down after halftime like the unit has all season.
“The offense loves that,” Lee said.
SU has allowed just two second-half touchdowns this season. The Jaguars forced five turnovers — three fumbles and two interceptions — in the second half against TSU, which has been turnover-prone this season but had none in the first half.
“We had to come back in the second half, get our mind right and make up for those plays in the first half,” said strong safety Jarmaul George, the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s preseason defensive player of the year.
George set up a 31-yard Josh Duran field goal for a 41-34 lead with 3:56 remaining with a 30-yard interception return. George has had one interception in three of SU’s four games.
Though the Tigers had slow starts in their first three games, that wasn’t the case Saturday.
A 60-yard flea flicker set up TSU’s first score, a 1-yard Heffner run. Heffner then hit Brandon Belvin on a 61-yard touchdown pass for a 13-0 lead with 9:13 left in the first quarter.
After Jacobs’ TD grab, TSU responded with a 49-yard Williams TD run with 29 seconds left in the first quarter and went up 27-6 on Heffner’s 4-yard pass to Chris Johnson with 6:36 until halftime.
“We had to make adjustments coverage-wise, went to another package and we just went after them,” SU defensive coordinator Terrence Graves said. “The guys just stepped up and made plays. God bless them. Those guys have the heart of a champion.”
Southern made a move late in the second quarter, with Darren Coates scoring on easy 31-yard touchdown on a swing pass with 6:03 until halftime and Coates scoring on a 1-yard plunge, one play after breaking loose on a 54-yard burst up the middle.
And two fumble recoveries led to two SU scores in the third quarter.
First, Charles’ recovery of a Heffner fumble at the SU 48 set up Landry’s six-yard score six plays later, closing the Jaguars within 27-25 with 5:42 left in the third. Then, Efe Osawemwenze recovered a Williams fumble at the SU 47, with Coates giving SU a 32-27 lead, also six plays later, with 2:41 left in the third.
Two offensive plays later, TSU answered with Heffner’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Ronald Evans to put the Tigers up 34-32.
Then a defensive stand, with TSU facing a third-and-6 at the SU 33, led the Tigers to punt. Heffner was called for intentional grounding as Toyin Akinwale and Donald Steele swarmed him at the Southern 49.
Three plays later, Lee found Roberts for the go-ahead score to put Southern up 38-34 with 10:16 left.
“B. Lee’s a gamer. He does what it takes,” Landry said.
Sounds like Landry could have been talking about all the Jaguars.
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