Tigers defeat Southern Jaguars, prepare to tame UAPB Lions

Special to The Flash
Jackson State University Tigers stopped the Southern Jaguars on downs inside the 10-yard line with a minute left and held on for a 19-14 Southwestern Athletic Conference win Saturday night.
The Jaguars (2-3, 2-1 SWAC) took over on their own 25 midway through the fourth quarter and marched quickly to the Southern 14. But the drive fizzled and Dray Joseph’s fourth-down pass from the 7 fell incomplete.

Jackson State (3-2, 3-0) had taken a 19-7 lead in the third quarter on 2-yard touchdown runs by Clayton Moore and Rakeem Simms. Joseph brought Southern back with a 70-yard drive capped by a 19-yard strike to Lee Doss with a minute left in the third.

The Tigers had a balanced attack with 190 yards rushing and 165 passing from Moore.
Joseph finished with 246 yards passing. Lenard Tillery had a 60-yard TD run to put the Jags up 7-3 at halftime.

Jackson State’s John McNabb was tabbed as a College Football Performance Awards SWAC player of the week for his performance against the Southern last weekend. McNabb finished with five tackles (four solo), three tackles for loss and a quarterback sack in JSU’s 19-14 win over the Jaguars.
Jackson State returns to action Saturday, Oct. 5 when the Tigers host the Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 pm. Jackson State has won all its SWAC games so far this season and has a 3-0 SWAC record, despite having lost two non-conference games to Tulane University and Tennessee State University.

Saturday’s game against the Golden Lions is one that JSU surely plans to win given the fact that UABP cost the Tigers a SWAC championship last year. Even though they were picked as preseason favorites, the Lions seem to have lost their roar. The team is currently winless after four games.

So far this season, the Golden Lions lost 14 to 58 against 18th ranked McNeese State. Their other losses were to Arkansas State, 11-62; and Alcorn State, 16-21. Last week, they lost their season opener with Alabama State by one point, score 39-40. It was also the first SWAC game for the Golden Lions, who fell to 0-3 and 0-1 in the SWAC. Alabama State improved to 1-2 and 1-1 with their first win of the season.