Montgomery, AL - Nick Andrews caught nine passes for a career-high 148 yards and two touchdowns and Kejuan Riley made two pivotal interceptions as Alabama State defeated Grambling State 31-17 Saturday night in a Southwestern Athletic Conference game at Cramton Bowl.Andrews' 15-yard touchdown catch from QB Greg Jenkins in the fourth quarter broke a 10-10 tie as the Hornets (2-1 overall, 2-0 SWAC) scored 21 points in a 2:30 span to pull away from Grambling State (1-2, 1-1).
“This was a great win for our team,” head coach Reggie Barlow said. “It was exciting. We knew it would be a pivotal game and we talked to them about it. These guys are buying into the vision and playing hard.”
Andrews' second touchdown of the night continued his ascent up the ASU receiving charts. Andrews now has 22 touchdown receptions, moving him to third all time, as he surpassed William Evans and Damon Hodge (each with 21).
Jenkins came off the bench in the second half, completing seven of 12 passes for 59 yards and one touchdown. Jenkins also rushed for a 16-yard touchdown two plays after the first of Riley's two interceptions.
“This was a great win for us as a program,” Andrews said. “The fans came out strong, they were great. We started off slow in the first half, but kept the ball moving all night. I just think the execution improved in the second half and we were able to come away with the victory.”
Alabama State rolled up 399 yards total offense, limiting Grambling to 177 yards. GSU quarterback D.J. Williams completed nine of 22 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns, both to Mario Louis, who caught four passes for 46 yards.
“It was a huge night for us,” Riley said. “We had a good plan, did what our coaches instructed and played hard. We knew we had to get off the field, make plays for offense and put them in position to make plays and win the ball game.”
Tied at 10-10 early in the third quarter, Barlow inserted Jenkins in at quarterback, who did not start after suffering a hip injury at Eastern Michigan last week.
“Jenkins is our guy,” Barlow said. “We love Dominguez; he's a good player for us and it's good to have an option like Dominguez. We're excited that we could have Jenkins go in. We just wanted to make sure he was ok and he could protect himself. Obviously he was able to do that, we decided to go with him and he performed well.”
The win by Alabama State was the first over Grambling since 2006 and the first in Montgomery since 1997.
“Grambling was the team that was picked to win the league. We wanted to see how we measured up. It was the same attitude we had against Eastern Michigan, and the same attitude we had against these guys. We knew it was going to be a fight. We were (7-25) against them, so we haven't had a lot of success against them. Obviously, this does something for these guys' psyche to dominate the way that we did.”
By Alabama State University Sports Information
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