HOUSTON, Texas – The Alcorn State University football program jumped out to a two-touchdown advantage in the first quarter and never surrendered the lead in a wire-to-wire 24-17 win over Texas Southern in a non-conference game Friday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Alcorn (3-2, 1-0 SWAC) scored on its first drive of the game on a 45-yard pass to senior Norlando Veals. The Braves increased the edge to 14-0 after an eight-yard run by junior P.J. Simmons. The Tigers (0-4, 0-1 SWAC) could not get the deficit below seven points the rest of the way.
The Braves rushed for 244 yards as a team. Senior De'Lance Turner, the reigning SWAC Offensive Player of the Week winner, totaled 115 rushing yards. Simmons ended with 88 yards and a touchdown, while senior quarterback Lenorris Footman rushed for 41 yards and a score.
In the air, Footman threw for 241 yards and a touchdown. More than half of his yards went to Veals who hauled in six catches for 140 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Alcorn was led by junior Isiah Thomas who turned in a career game. He tripled his career-high with 13 tackles including three for a loss and also recorded an interception. Junior Leishaun Ealey notched eight tackles with a pair of pass break-ups.
Dominic DeLira threw for 183 yards for TSU.
After the Tigers went three-and-out on their first series of the game, Alcorn's offense wasted little time and scored on a 45-yard pass to Veals. It came on a slant route through the middle as Veals made the catch and then outran the Tigers defense to put Alcorn ahead 7-0 at the 12:17 mark. It was the third play of the drive, and came after a first down rush by Turner.
The Braves added-on another score late in the first quarter to make it 14-0. The drive was setup by a 38-yard completion to Veals as he was off to the races, but got tripped up at the last moment. Simmons did the rest from there, as he ran for the final 16 yards including an eight-yard touchdown rush along the right sideline.
The Tigers got on the board with a 93-yard kick return for a touchdown by Daequan Jones. It trimmed the deficit to 14-7 with 22 seconds left in the first quarter. Jones broke free after making one sharp cut along the left side and sped past the coverage for the score.
TSU was threatening again early in the second quarter after a 28-yard rush by Tylor Cook moved the ball to the Alcorn 31. Though, the Braves defense made a stand, and a 4th-and-7 attempt by the Tigers was broken up by junior OJ O'Neal on a pass over the middle.
Alcorn was looking to put points on the board late in the half. A screen pass to Turner went for 24 yards and placed the ball near midfield with 40 seconds left. On the next play, Footman completed a pass to junior Charles Hughes for a first down at the TSU 38, as Alcorn called its second timeout with 30 seconds remaining. A scramble for 20 yards and out-of-bounds by Footman stopped the clock with 21 seconds at the TSU 18.
After a pair of incomplete passes, the Braves settled for a 34-yard field goal attempt but it sailed wide-right. Alcorn held a 14-7 lead at the half.
The Braves came out hot in the second half, and completed a pair of quick passes to Veals and junior Tavares Johnson. A big run around the right corner by Turner nearly went for the score but he was tackled short at the one-yard line for a gain of 32. Footman kept it himself on the very next play for a one-yard touchdown run to the right to go up 21-7 with 13:29 remaining.
Midway through the third, the Tigers put together a long, 12-play drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run through the middle by Brad Woodard on a third-and-goal. It chopped the Alcorn lead back down to 21-14.
The Braves offense got going again early in the fourth quarter with a 42-yard run through the middle by Simmons. It helped increase the lead to 24-14 after sophomore Corey McCullough registered a 28-yard field goal with 11:21 to go.
TSU was able to make it a one-score game again with 4:58 in the fourth after Aaron Cuevas was successful on a 49-yard field goal attempt.
The Tigers had one last chance to tie the game as they took over at their own eight-yard line with 1:02 remaining and no timeouts. TSU converted one first down, but didn't get past its own 27-yard line.
The Braves have a short week coming up as they travel to Alabama State for a Thursday game at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Alcorn is 22-18 all-time against the Hornets and seeking its fourth straight win in the series. The Braves have gone undefeated against SWAC East Division opponents in back-to-back years. Alcorn will look to go 2-0 in league play for the fourth time in the last five years.
NOTES
- The Braves improved to 34-18-4 all-time against TSU. Alcorn defeated the Tigers for the sixth consecutive year.
- Alcorn held a large edge in total offense 485-295. The Braves entered the contest leading the league in total offense with 444.8 yards per outing.
- Footman moved up to No. 8 all-time in school history in career rushing yards with 1,774. He surpassed Perry Qualls who rushed for 1,754 yards from 1982-85. Footman is also No. 8 in touchdown passes with 29, and 10th in passing yards with 3,545.
- Turner entered the game leading the SWAC in rushing with 111.0 yards per game and will improve upon his tally with 115. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry on 19 rushes.
- Veals entered the contest averaging 4.5 receptions per game which ranked third in the conference. He pulled in six with a long of 45 yards.
- McCullough booted five punts for 213 yards. He averaged 42.6 yards per punt which was on-par with his league-leading 43.1 yards entering the game.
- Thomas' interception was the first of his career. His previous career-high in tackles was four against Southern last week.
- Alcorn's captains were juniors Brandon Campbell and Marquis Warford, and sophomore Solomon Muhammad and Warford. The Braves won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Fred McNair
Opening Statement
"We didn't play our kind of football tonight. We have to look at this game and figure out how we can get better. It includes all phases of the game. I have to give Coach Haywood a lot of credit because he's done a great job at Texas Southern. But we looked like a bad football team tonight."
On being able to win on the road even when you don't play your best
"Well it's always tough to win on the road. Though tonight, we just didn't execute or stay focused. The penalties continue to just kill us. It's tough to run the offense when we're always playing from behind the chains. We may have to move around some pieces on the offensive line, but overall we just didn't play well tonight."
On Isiah Thomas
"It was a great effort by him. He came out tonight and really played hard. He's a guy who continues to improve every week and we're getting a lot of production out of him."
On a short week coming up against Alabama State
"We'll have a practice Sunday, and then go again Monday and Tuesday. We'll be back on the road Wednesday and it's obviously a big game. Hopefully, we'll bounce back from this and play better. When we execute, we're a great football team. I'm glad we won tonight, but the way we played is not our brand of football."
BOX SCORE
ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
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