ITTA BENA, Miss. — At least once before, they’d been burned on this play. They knew that at some point, they’d see it again.
So in the final minute of Southern’s sloppy-but-important 28-21 victory Saturday at Rice-Totten Stadium, with fans screaming, momentum shifting and Mississippi Valley State facing a fourth-and-9 it had to convert, defensive tackle Dexter James prepared for the most important play. He adjusted his face mask and placed one hand on the grass.
A few yards behind him, linebacker Jamie Payton took his place and stood firm. They prepared for anything, but they both had a sneaking suspicion. They watched for a screen.
Payton: “As soon as they snapped the ball and let the defensive line go through, I knew it had to be a screen coming from somewhere.”
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Douglas answers the call for SU
ITTA BENA, Miss. — When the call came, quarterback J.P. Douglas expected it. Southern’s freshman backup knows the drill by now.
Saturday afternoon at Rice-Totten Stadium, in an ugly-but-important 28-21 win against Mississippi Valley State, the Southern offense was moving, but it often struggled to reach the goal line. The starter, Dray Joseph, mixed a handful of masterful moments with the occasional mistake.
And a vicious wind, coming in from the north and gusting to 20 mph, didn’t allow for many easy throws. But that didn’t really make a difference. Second-year coach Stump Mitchell has said all along he wants Douglas to play a little in every game — and in three of the past four weeks, he’d been true to his word. So when Mitchell told Douglas to hit the field at the start of the third quarter Saturday, Douglas said he knew what to do.
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