Photo: Jazmine Moering<\/p>\n
Cameron Adams
\nEditor-In- Chief<\/p>\n
Jackson State University\u2019s first home game of the season was nothing short of historical on Sept. 27, 2023.<\/p>\n
Not only did the Tigers secure their first home victory in the W.C. Gorden Classic after a grueling battle with Bethune-Cookman, they also made school and HBCU history after Leilana Armenta, a freshman and member of the JSU soccer team, became the first female kicker in Jackson State history.<\/p>\n
Although this achievement was monumental for women in sports, it was not intentional. Coach T.C. Taylor explained that Armenta was added to the Tigers roster due to some unexpected injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a situation where we got both kickers injured\u2026my back was against the wall and we had to find somebody,\u201d stated Taylor.<\/p>\n
Coach Taylor shared that he found Armenta through Ted Flogaites, the head coach of Jackson State\u2019s women\u2019s soccer team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was talking to Dr. Ted, a championship soccer coach, and he had a young lady over there who did it well in high school,\u201d Taylor stated. \u201cShe came out there and did what we asked her to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the last-minute changes to the team, the Tigers were able to tame the Wildcats to secure a 22-16 victory. This was thanks to Jackson State\u2019s stellar defensive performance.<\/p>\n
Tiger linebacker Issac Peppers was a huge contributor to their performance early in the match up. Peppers delivered a safety late in the first quarter, putting the Tigers up 2-0.<\/p>\n
Peppers claimed that he takes pride in his defense, and is willing to do what he can to help the team win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what linebackers are supposed to do,\u201d Peppers stated. \u201cIf I can bring this team improvement and benefits, then I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensive end Athen Smith also turned good defense into offense after delivering a 32-yard fumble return for the touchdown. Smith\u2019s defensive efforts would earn him Defensive MVP of the game.<\/p>\n
Another big-time contributor to the Tigers win was running back Irv Mulligan. His performance carried the Tigers on the offensive end, rushing for 174 yards on 21 carries.<\/p>\n
Mulligan also scored a huge 66-yard touchdown that electrified the Veterans Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n
Mulligan stated that he wanted his run to do just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just doing my job,\u201d Mulligan said. \u201cI just wanted to bring the team back and bring some momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the win against the Wildcats, Coach Taylor was not satisfied with the overall performance of the team. He claimed that there is a lot of work that needs to be done before the next matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to get this football team to play all three phases. One week it\u2019s the offense, one week it\u2019s the defense, special teams have to get better,\u201d Taylor stated.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cI\u2019m still waiting to see our whole football team come together and go out there and dominate a football game.\u201d<\/p>\n
With their first bye week of the season approaching, Coach Taylor and the Tigers are taking the time to prepare for their next matchup against Alabama A&M on Oct. 7th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photo: Jazmine Moering Cameron Adams Editor-In- Chief Jackson State University\u2019s first home game of the season was nothing short of historical on Sept. 27, 2023. Not only did the Tigers secure their first home victory in the W.C. Gorden Classic after a grueling battle with Bethune-Cookman, they also made school and HBCU history after Leilana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11911"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11930,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11911\/revisions\/11930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}