LORMAN, Miss. – Junior
Felix Harper threw for 324 yards and five touchdowns Saturday to propel the Alcorn State University football program to a 42-17 victory over Savannah State on Homecoming at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.
Alcorn (5-2, 3-0 SWAC) jumped on SSU (3-3, 2-0 SIAC) early with a 21-3 lead. After the Tigers came back with a pair of scores to cut the deficit to 21-17, the Braves scored the final 21 points of the game and shutout SSU in the second half.
The Braves, who won their fourth straight game and seventh straight home contest, held an edge of 488-262 in total yards, including a 324-87 disparity in passing.
Harper was 16-for-21 passing and did not throw an interception. Since taking over as the starter the last four games, he has thrown for 1,146 yards, 16 touchdowns and no interceptions.
The leading receiver for the Braves was sophomore Juan Anthony Jr. with 140 yards and a touchdown. Also breaking the 100-yard mark was senior
Chris Blair with 108 yards and two touchdowns. Junior
LeCharles Pringle hauled in 53 yards and two touchdowns.
On the ground, senior
De'Shawn Waller rushed for 90 yards. Sophomore
Trey Turner got into the end zone and finished with 35 yards.
Sophomore Keyron Kinsler wrapped-up a game-high 10 tackles. Seniors
Daylon Burks and
Allen Bruce both recorded interceptions, and junior
Chris Monroe recovered a fumble.
The Tigers were led by D'Angelo Durham who rushed for a game-high 94 yards. D'vonn Gibbons threw for 87 yards and a touchdown.
The Braves will be off from competition next weekend as they have their first bye week. Their next game is against Southern at home on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. at Spinks-Casem Stadium. It's a rematch of the 2018 SWAC Championship game where Alcorn won 37-28.
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
Alcorn got on the board first with a six-play, 75-yard drive on the opening series. The first play was a 16-yard pass to Anthony, and the Braves crossed midfield on a 28-yard spurt by Waller. Alcorn punched it in on a 14-yard pass to Pringle to lead 7-0 early.
The Braves also scored on their second drive to lead 14-0 at the 5:54 mark. It was a quick drive as Harper aired it out to Blair for a 71-yard bomb and he went into the end zone untouched.
SSU started moving the ball late in the first. A 15-yard penalty, bundled with a 23-yard pass to Adunte Devereux moved the ball deep into Alcorn territory. However, the Braves limited the Tigers to just a field goal attempt as Giovanni Lugo knocked in a 26-yard to cut the deficit to 14-3.
The Braves answered early in the second. After an interception by Burks, Alcorn started with the ball at the SSU 47. Three plays later, Harper connected with Pringle for a 39-yard touchdown to increase the advantage to 21-3 with 10:53 remaining.
The Tigers began to mount a comeback midway through the second. The key moment the flipped the momentum came on a 3rd-and-16 play. SSU was stopped short after a four-yard rush, but a 15-yard facemask penalty was called on the Braves which extended the series. The Tigers took advantage and scored on a 15-yard pass to Cameron White to trail 21-10 with 5:31 to go.
On the ensuing Alcorn drive, the Braves were backed up after a holding penalty on the kick return. On the very first play, Harper was strip-sacked by Dameien Rodgers, and SSU's Cam Brown dove on it in the end zone for a touchdown. The Tigers trailed 21-17 at the 5:10 mark.
The Braves scored late in the half to regain control. They began with great field position after Bruce returned an interception to the SSU 13. After a holding penalty, Alcorn scored on a 3rd-and-21 play as Harper hooked up with Blair for a 24-yard score.
SSU had a chance to get points in the closing seconds of the half. It had the ball on the Alcorn 26 when Gibbons was under heavy pressure and tried to get rid of it, but was called for a 21-yard intentional grounding penalty which put them out of field goal range. The Braves led 28-17 at the break.
The Braves shutout SSU in the second half. The offense scored on their first play on an 84-yard home run pass to Anthony to make it a 35-17 game with 10:47 remaining.
Late in the third, Alcorn added-on. After a 19-yard rush by Waller and a 24-yard run by Turner, the Braves entered the red zone. They scored on a three-yard dash through the middle by Turner to increase the lead to 42-17 with 39 seconds left.
Sophomore quarterback
Jyron Russell and senior
Kevon Marsh saw action for the Braves in the fourth. The Braves marched down the field late in the game and moved to the SSU 35 after a series of runs by Marsh and sophomore
Jonathon Bolton. Though, Alcorn ran out of time before it could score again as the click hit zero.
NOTES
- It was just the second-ever meeting between Alcorn and SSU. Braves won the only previous meeting 34-6 in 1970.
- The Braves have won 14 consecutive games against non-Division I opponents.
- Alcorn has scored at least 40 points in each of its four home games this year. The program improved to 83-53 all-time in Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium, which is in its 28th season.
- The Braves are now 18-0 when leading at halftime since 2017.
- Alcorn entered the game as one of five teams in the nation to carry a perfect 100 percent conversion rate on fourth downs. The Braves converted their only fourth down attempt on a 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter on a rush by Marsh.
- The Alcorn defense entered the game leading the SWAC in fewest points allowed per game (21.5) and total defense (338.0 ypg). The Braves will improve on both tallies as they limited SSU to 17 points and 262 yards.
- Blair entered the game leading the league in yards per reception (21.1). He caught three passes for 108 yards for a 36.0 average. His 71-yard touchdown reception was a career-long.
- Anthony's 140 receiving yards marked a career-high. His previous best was 75 yards in the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl last season against North Carolina A&T.
- Freshman
Niko Duffey, the reigning SWAC Newcomer of the Week winner, did not play in the game.
- Alcorn entered the weekend ranked No. 3 in the national HBCU Top-10, and also received votes in the STATS FCS Top-25 Poll.
- Alcorn's captains were seniors
Corey McCullough,
Darrell Henderson and Pringle. The Braves won the coin toss and elected to receive.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Fred McNair
Opening Statement
"The biggest thing is that we came out and played the way we should have in the first half. We played fast on offense, scored and the defense played great. The second half we came out and did some things out of the ordinary; too many penalties for one, just selfish being that way. We just can't come out and play that caliber of a game down the stretch because now it's all about the SWAC conference. We've got Southern in two weeks. They're a really good football team and we have to be prepared."
On preparing for Savannah State's rushing attack
"Our guys had to be focused and had to use their eyes against that kind of option offense. We didn't do such a good job, but I thought we prepared for it well all week. There's a lot of things we saw that we have to fix before we play Southern in two weeks.
On what the emphasis will be on during the bye week
"Well hopefully we'll get all these 'walking wounded's' healed. We had a few out today and we can use the time off. Though at the same time, we still have a lot of work to do to get better. We're going to work this week and maybe give the kids off the weekend, we'll see how the week goes."
On Southern
"I'll tell you what, Coach Odom is going to have those guys fired up and they're going to come in and do what they do. They're a good football team, they play hard on defense, special teams and definitely play hard on offense with [Ladarius] Skelton at quarterback. He's a good quarterback and we just got to prepare ourselves. If we play the Alcorn Braves brand of football then the opposition really doesn't affect us because we control everything we do. We just have to come out and play hard with a whole lot of effort."
Quoting quarterback Felix Harper
On his five-touchdown performance
"I just want to first thank God for giving me this opportunity, but also my coaches. The offensive line gave me time to get to my playmakers, my receivers, who made me look good at the end of the day."
On how he's been so successful so far this season
"Coach McNair and Coach [Pat] White tell me every day 'the way you practice is the way you play' so I take practice very seriously. It's been competitive for the past few weeks at practice, and that's paid off in the games."
On scoring so much at home
"Coach [Elliott] Wratten is calling great plays and we just try to execute as a unit. I try to find the open man and they make plays."
Quoting safety Keyron Kinsler
On leading the team in tackles today
"I couldn't do anything without the D-line, I couldn't do anything without the linebackers, and I couldn't do anything without the corners. We prepared hard all week, executed and got the job done. I just tried to play with my eyes and trusted what my coaches were telling me."
On what the game plan was coming in against Savannah State
"We have to do our job. We have to 'cut our own grass' and we knew we had to stop the run. I think we came out and we executed well in the second half more so than the first half and we found a way to win."
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