LORMAN &045; All Alcorn State’s offense wanted was a possession.

With the way the Braves were clicking in the second half with the ball, any time quarterback Donald Carrie had enough time to throw, everyone in Jack Spinks Stadium held their breaths.

But the offense never got the opportunity. Against an awfully tough Southern squad, the Braves fumbled a punt return in the fourth quarter and lost the ball after blocking a field goal with just over a minute left as the Jaguars left with a 23-20 win.

The loss essentially knocked the wind out of the Braves, who played in front of their biggest home crowd in at least four years. It was their second conference loss and put a serious damper on hopes of playing in the SWAC Championship.

&uot;It was just a very difficult game for us,&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;I’m trying to get some words in me right now because of how my team is feeling, how I am feeling and how my coaches are feeling. It’s a very, very difficult game to lose, especially when we had opportunities to win the football game.&uot;

The Braves indeed had their chances to win the game, but at the end it nearly turned into a game of whoever had the ball last could win. The Braves piled up 404 yards total offense with Carrie accounting for a season-high 314 yards, but Southern countered with a running game that pounded away for 269 yards on the ground.

Yet the Braves had a chance.

The Jaguars lined up to kick a field goal with less than two minutes left in the game holding the three-point lead, but the Braves blocked it. Taurian Parks scooped up the ball and broke downfield, but he tried to lateral when he was about to get taken down just shy of midfield.

The lateral went wide and into the hands of Southern’s Dedrick Shelmire. Thomas Ricks and the Southern offense took a couple knees

to run out the clock and keep Carrie and the offense off the field.

&uot;We’ve been lucky,&uot; Southern head coach Pete Richardson said. &uot;I tell the kids if they play hard and don’t quit, something positive will happen. (Alcorn) played an outstanding football game. I still don’t know what happened (on the blocked field goal). I know we came up with the ball, but sometimes stuff like that happens. We were just lucky to come out on top.&uot;

The Braves had another chance at the start of the fourth quarter holding a 20-16 lead after Carrie hit Spiller on a 61-yard touchdown pass to take the lead. The defense held Southern to a punt from its own 40, and Lonnie Teagle came up with the ball at the Alcorn 24.

But Teagle fumbled, and Southern’s Mark Frederick &045; a Woodville native &045; got the ball.

It set up the Jaguars’ game-winning drive of seven plays, 25 yards with all gains on the ground. Ricks held it on the final play for a four-yard touchdown run.

&uot;We knew we could run the football,&uot; Ricks said. &uot;It was just a matter of time with our guys up front. We knew they like to play a lot of man defense &045; I beat you, and you beat me.

&uot;(Alcorn) really buckled down in the red zone. They’re really physical, and they tackled well. Their coaching staff did a good job, but it’s all about our guys up front. Things worked out for us.&uot;

The fumble was crucial since it kept Ricks and the Southern offense on the field for almost six minutes. The Jaguars kept it on the ground on a drive midway through the third quarter and drove 73 yards on 14 plays &045; only one play a pass, albeit a shovel pass &045; and scored when Ricks took it in from 2 yards out for a 16-13 lead with 1:37.

Carrie then hit Spiller on a play-action pass on the Braves’ second play, and the Jaguars kept it again.

Take away the two Alcorn plays, and the Jaguars had it for nearly 15 minutes.

&uot;We just made some crucial and critical mistakes to allow Southern to get back on the field offensively and take advantage of what we were doing defensively,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;Southern put its offense back on the field instead of our offense, and that’s what hurt us. We played good enough to beat Southern, but we made some mistakes in the fourth quarter.&uot;

The Braves got on the board first when Carrie found Spiller in the back of the end zone on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 6:58 left in the first quarter. David McConnell’s 22-yard field goal put the lead at 10-0 before Southern’s Breck Ackley hit field goals of 25 and 33 yards to cut the lead to 10-6 at half.