Grambling's emphasis on turnovers pays off

GRAMBLING, Louisiana -- Leading up to his team’s annual showdown at the State Fair Classic with Prairie View A&M last week, Grambling State head football coach Broderick Fobbs fielded a barrage of questions regarding the Panthers defense and how well it had performed up to that point.

By the end of his weekly press conference Tuesday morning, the Tigers coach had enough.

“What about our defense?” Fobbs asked. “I mean, we’re plus-11 in the turnover margin. People lose sight of that. So, what about what we’ve been able to do defensively?”



BRODERICK FOBBS TELECONFERENCE

Well, the Tigers (5-1, 2-0) widened that margin Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, beginning with the game’s opening series when GSU senior safety Kendall Hill intercepted Panther quarterback Lavell McCuller on the way to causing three turnovers, while keeping a clean sheet offensively themselves in the 34-21 victory.

Sophomore linebacker Deandre Hogues, who earned the SWAC Defensive Player of the Week honor with three tackles for loss and five total stops, forced a fumble while senior linebacker Deontae Hatter and redshirt junior defensive lineman Brandon Varner both had a fumble recovery Saturday to stretch the G-Men’s turnover rate to plus-14, tops in the conference by a substantial gap. Southern is second in the SWAC in turnover margin at plus-4.

CONTINUE READING

SWAC coaches 'hate' seeing Jenkins lose job midseason

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Seeing Alabama State fire Brian Jenkins midway through the season left James Spady perplexed.

“For football coaches to see something like this go down in the middle of the season is disconcerted,” the Alabama A&M coach said during Monday’s SWAC coaches teleconference.

ASU let Jenkins go after losing 24-10 to Alcorn State last week to drop to 0-5 and have its worst start since 1997. The Hornets won just four of their last 1
6 games under Jenkins, but the news of his firing was still jarring.

DONALD HILL-ELEY TELECONFERENCE

“Just talking to him after the game, you kind of sensed things in a way,” Alcorn State coach Fred McNair said. “I hate to see anybody lose their job. I was talking to my coaching staff about it when it happened. It was kind of disheartening. You’ve got a man there with family, kids and things of nature, and midway through the season, you lose your job.”

ASU (0-5, 0-2 SWAC) will now move forward and look to win its first game Saturday at Texas Southern (0-5, 0-1) with Donald Hill-Eley as interim head coach.

CONTINUE READING

No 9 Langston Halts Lane Dragons, Remain Unbeaten

JACKSON, Tennessee -- The No. 9 Langston Lions pushed their win streak to five games after holding off the Lane College Dragons 27-21 in a non-conference tilt on Saturday, Oct. 7.

The Lions jumped out to an early lead following a 18-yard touchdown run from Milton Harper (SR/Tulsa, Okla.) at the 10:36 mark in the first quarter; Langston started with a short at the Dragons 45-yard line following a fumble recovery on a punt.

Three drives later, Langston marched their way to the Lane College 21-yard line before two penalties, two rushing attempts for four yards and an incomplete pass had the Lions facing a fourth-and-21; Jaylen Lowe (JR/Collinsville, Okla.) cooked up a bit of magic and hit Cedric Jackson (JR/Marrero, La.) for a 32-yard touchdown to put Langston ahead 14-0 at the end of the first.

Langston tacked on another score prior to intermission after Tim Whitfield (FR/Meeker, Okla.) scored on a one-yard run to cap an 11-play, 62-yard drive at the 5:14 mark in the second half.



Harper pushed the Lions to 27-0 after hooking up with Elyon Zeigler (SO/New Orleans, La.) for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 5:33 remaining in the third quarter.

The Dragons countered with a seven-play, 62-yard scoring drive which ended with Marquez Pickett tossing a 30-yard touchdown into the hands of Aaron Thomas; Lane College continued to chip away at the lead in the fourth quarter following a four-yard TD run by Marcus Holiday and another 30-yard touchdown pass from Pickett to Omari Hampton at the 5:30 mark in the fourth quarter.

Lane College retained possession at the 4:08 mark and marched to the Langston 48-yard line but three straight incompletions by Pickett halted the Dragons scoring drive attempt. The Dragons regained possession once more with 2:13 remaining at the Langston 20-yard line.

Facing a 2nd-and-10 at the 20-yard line, the Lions defense stood tall when Malik Argue (SR/New Orleans, La.) sacked Pickett for a 15-yard loss to pin the Dragons back to their own five-yard line. Pickett completed two straight passes but only netted one yard in the process to seal the road victory for the Lions.

Harper led the Lions passing attacked, finishing seven-for-13 for 116 yards and one touchdown; Lowe completed four-for-nine for 56 yards and one touchdown. Tim Whitfield anchored the ground game with 68 yards on 13 rushes with one touchdown; Jackson finished with five catches for 85 yards and one touchdown.

Defensively, James Cox (SO/Hammond, La.) led Langston with eight total tackles included two tackles for loss. Dennis Gafford (FR/Houston, Texas), Michael Smith (SR/Compton, Calif.), Jamarie Finnie and Peter Gordon (JR/Del City, Okla.) all finished second on team with seven total tackles.
Langston (5-0, 3-0) returns to CSFL action next week when they host Texas College in the Black Wall Street Classic in Tulsa, Okla. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

BOX SCORE



LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS

Virginia Union Panthers Overpower Lincoln (PA) to Go 3-0 in CIAA

RICHMOND, Virginia -- Virginia Union University's Darius Taylor complete eight of 14 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns as the Panthers over-powered Lincoln (Pa.) University 45-23 on Saturday, October 7, in Lincoln University, Pa.

Taylor now has 11 passing touchdowns and 1,077 yards passing on the season.

VUU's Arron Baker rushed for 137 yards on 10 carries, marking the first time Baker has went over the century mark in rushing yards at VUU.

Virginia Union's Chazton McKenzie led the Panthers with three catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. VUU's Jewison Dawkins and Lavatiae Kelly also caught touchdown passes in the win.

VUU's Sterling Hammond led the Panthers with nine tackles and also recovered a Lincoln fumble.

Virginia Union posted the second-highest offensive output of the season with 488 yards in total offense. Union's highest total this season came against Fayetteville State University when VUU racked up 511 yards in total offense.

The win also kept VUU in a first-place tie with Bowie State University and Virginia State University for first-place in the Nothern Division of the CIAA. All three schools have idential 3-0 conference records and 1-0 divisional records.

Virginia Union now returns to Hovey Field in Richmond, Va., to face Chowan University at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 14 in the Luc
ille M. Brown Community Youth Bowl.

BOX SCORE

VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

HBCU Judgement Day Scoreboard -- Week 6 Finals

SATURDAY, October 7, 2017



MEAC
North Carolina Central 13, Howard 7
North Carolina A&T 44, Delaware State 3
Norfolk State 35, Florida A&M 28
Hampton 17, Savannah State 10
South Carolina State 35, Morgan State 14, Friday

OVC
Tennessee State 45, ,Eastern Kentucky 21

SWAC
Grambling State 34, Prairie View A&M 21, State Fair Classic
Southern 35, Alabama A&M 14
Mississippi Valley State 38, Arkansas Pine Bluff 31
Kennesaw State 48, Texas Southern 3
Alcorn State 24, Alabama State 10, Thursday

OTHER CONF.
Texas College 21, Texas Wesleyan 11
Edward Waters 56, University of God's Chosen 12
Lock Haven  62, Cheyney 0



SIAC
Miles 41, Central State (OH) 20
West Virginia State 35, Kentucky State 23
Albany State 30, Lincoln (MO) 10
Langston  27, Lane 21
Tuskegee 23. Morehouse 17  O.T.
Fort Valley State 41, Clark Atlanta 24

CIAA
Saint Augustine's 30, Livingstone 29
Fayetteville State 24, Shaw 21
Virginia State 56, Elizabeth City State 0
Winston-Salem State 27, Johnson C. Smith 22
 Bowie State 41, Chowan 10
Virginia Union 45, Lincoln (PA) 23

Fort Valley State Over Power Clark Atlanta 41-24

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Wildcats entered this afternoon's game with one thing in mind and that was to get back into the win column after dropping a heart breaker to Southern University on last Saturday. Fort Valley State did just that by walking into CAU Stadium and taking control over the Panthers of Clark Atlanta University 41-24 Saturday, October 7.

With the win, the Wildcats improves their overall record to 2-3 and 3-0 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) while the Panthers fell to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.

CAU scored in the first quarter off a Roger Thomas 8-yard rushing touchdown with 1:22 left in the quarter. On the first play from scrimmage in the second quarter, Quarterback Slade Jarman completed a pass to Jeremy Glinton for 62-yards down to the 14-yardline. With a third and four, Chauncey Jackson rushed up the middle for 8-yards to tie the score; Juan Serna's kick was good (7-7).

Saldana's field goal from 25-yards out with 11:13 on the clock increased CAU's lead by three 10-7. At the 6:45 mark, Juan Serna matched Saldana's kick with a field goal of his own from 37-yards away making the score 10-10. Lorenzo Smothers added to FVSU's scoring on a 10-yard rush; Serna's kick was good (17-10). Wildcats went to halftime up 17-10.



Everything went back and forth in the third quarter until the Panthers punted and Smothers returned the ball 86-yards for the touchdown to increase the score 24-10; Serna's kick was good.

Jarman once again produced points off a 13 play, 74-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tajee Steele as time was running out in the third quarter; Serna's kick was good (31-10).

Starting the fourth quarter, CAU's J. McCray closed the gap with a 14-yard pass for a touchdown; Saldana's kick was good (31-24). Then after going scoreless, Serna kicked a 22-yard field goal with 1:25 on the scoreboard 34-24. As time would run out J. McCray's pass was picked off by Nicco Whigham and returned 40-yards for the touchdown to complete the victory; Serna's kick was good (41-24).

For the game, Chauncey Jackson led the Wildcats with 131-yards in rushing and scored one touchdown while Slade Jarman completed 16-of-24 passes for 233-yards and one touchdown. Jeremy Glinton led the team with five catches for 87-yards, Tajee Steele added four catches for 67-yards and one touchdown. Lorenzo Smothers ended the game with 206 all-purpose yards, 39 running, and 49 on recovery, 41 kick returns and 86-yards on punt return.

Defensively, Demetrius Harris led FVSU with nine tackles, 4.5 (13) tackle-for-loss, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble. Nicco Whigham had seven tackles, 2.0 (4) tackle-for-losses, added one interception and had three pass break-ups, while Cameron Young and Cannon Thomas added six tackles apiece.

Next game: FVSU will return home to host the Dragons of Lane College on Saturday, October 14 at 2 pm.

BOX SCORE

FORT VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Texas College earns first victory of the season, defeats Texas Wesleyan 21-11

TYLER, Texas -- Texas College celebrated homecoming with a victory on the gridiron Saturday night.

Quarterback Sean Stell came up with big pass plays and the Steers’ defense had stellar play as Texas College gave first-year coach Charles Moss his first collegiate win, a 21-11 victory over Texas Wesleyan on a moonlit Saturday night at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.

While it was a joyous homecoming for TC, it was not for Joe Prud’homme, a native Tylerite who has built the TWU program from the ground up in the Rams return to football for the first time since 1941.

Still, Prud’homme enjoyed brining his team to the Rose City where his father, Dr. Joe Prud’homme, still resides. Prud’homme was an all-sports star at Bishop Gorman and led the Crusaders to the state football finals in his first year as a head coach when he was 23.

The Steers jumped out to a 21-3 first-half lead thanks to three TD tosses from Stell. The senior from Fresno, California, threw touchdown passes to Ronald Harris (65 yards), Dyamond Woods (10) and Reginald Hardison (22).

Stell completed five passes for an average of 36 yards per completion. Harris had two catches for 103 yards, including a breakaway 65-yard dash.

CONTINUE READING