LORMAN &045; It was a thump, a large thump that could have been felt quite possibly down to Natchez and Adams County.

Alcorn State hit rock bottom Saturday in what was a very important game in the race for the Eastern Division title in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Braves never found a groove and looked up at a 41-8 final score when the final horn sounded against an Alabama State team that now sits alone in first place.

The Braves dropped their second straight game and now have scored just 34 points in their last three games after scoring 34 points in the season opener against Grambling.

&uot;Alabama State came in and thoroughly beat us,&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;They beat us in the offensive and defensive lines. Alabama State came in and demonstrated early they are the defending Eastern Division champions. They did an outstanding job of executing defensively and offensively.&uot;

Thomas withheld his players from the media.

The Braves never did seem comfortable on offense, and the Hornets did an excellent job of bringing pressure up front on quarterback Donald Carrie and the Braves’ passing game.

Alcorn finished the game with five interceptions and was sacked three times, and the ground game netted just 72 yards.

&uot;It’s always good to win,&uot; Alabama State head coach Charlie Coe said. &uot;We didn’t play as well as we could have played, but the thing I was pleased with was we didn’t have of penalties. You have to win the close ones, too. The coaches are coaching hard, and the players are playing hard. We’ve been blessed.&uot;

Give credit to the Hornets for keeping the pressure up front and jumping on the home team early. They jumped on Alcorn in the third quarter after holding a 14-6 lead at halftime by scoring three touchdowns and holding the Braves to just two first downs on their four possessions.

In those four drives the Hornets kept pressure on Carrie, who was able to connect on three passes while throwing one interception after he sat out all of the first quarter in favor of red-shirt freshman Oliver Bozeman.

&uot;We put in a lot of blitzes,&uot; Bama State linebacker Ronald &uot;Rock&uot; Dillon said. &uot;It’s not something we really put in for this game. We’ve had them but just haven’t been able to use them. But I think we will now. I think we created a lot of problems.&uot;

The Hornets scored on their second possession of the second half when Robert Randolph scored on a 2-yard run. The Braves’ following drive ended when Carrie had a pass picked off by Chris Dupuy, who returned it to the Alcorn 41.

Five plays later Tavaris Jackson threw one of his four touchdown passes to Clayton Harris Jr. for an 18 yards for a 28-6 lead with 8:05 left.

Alcorn went three and out on its next drive, and the Hornets drove 69 yards on eight plays when Randolph scored from 1 yard out for a 34-6 lead. Alcorn blocked the PAT, and Jeffrey Hobbs returned it for a score to cut the lead to 34-8.

&uot;I’m not denying it &045; they did an outstanding job of executing and coming in and dominating this football team tonight,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;That was due in part to the defensive line of Alabama State. We’ve got some young people in the offensive guards who are going through some growing pains. But overall they just completely out-manned us. They thoroughly beat us tonight.&uot;

Alcorn’s defense struggled at the start of the game, yielding touchdowns on the Hornets on their first two drives of the game. The Hornets drove 80 yards on 13 plays on their first drive when Jackson hit Lorenzo Hoffman on an 18-yard pass for a 7-0 lead.

The Braves punted on their next drive, and the Hornets started from the 50 before needing only six plays to get into the end zone. Reginald Glover then snagged a 34-yard pass from Jackson for a 14-0 lead with 1:04 left in the first.

The Braves fired blanks behind Bozeman in the first quarter, gaining just two first downs on three possessions. Carrie sparked the Braves on their final drive of the half when they went 95 yards on 13 plays and scored when Carrie hit Charlie Spiller on a 14-yard pass with 16 seconds left in the half.

Kicker David McConnell, however, missed wide on the PAT to leave the score at 14-6 at the half.