LORMAN &045; Alcorn’s secondary did just what it set out to do by stopping Southern’s explosive passing attack.

But Thomas Ricks and the Jaguars still found a way to hurt Alcorn’s defense, even with standout receiver James Vernon out injured.

Ricks and running back Steel Adams each cracked the century mark in rushing Saturday in the Braves’ 23-20 win Saturday at Jack Spinks Stadium against a depleted Alcorn defense. The Jaguars didn’t have to utilize Ricks in the passing game, and the conference’s top quarterback finished with just 55 yards passing.

But he ran for more than twice that much, the offense ran for 269 total yards and the Braves couldn’t come up with a stop on key drives in the second half.

&uot;Coming down here, it’s all about wanting it,&uot; said Ricks, who had 111 yards on 25 carries with Adams gaining 139 yards on 25 carries. &uot;The guys played hard all night. I can’t say enough about the guys up front. We just hit them up all night. Coach really stressed playing ball for 60 minutes. The third and fourth quarters &045; that’s where the game is won on Saturday.&uot;

It was enough to leave Alcorn and its contingent of fans in the jam-packed Jack Spinks Stadium disappointed Saturday. The defense came into the contest faring better against the run thanks to senior Leo Nobles moving to middle linebacker and had moved up from ninth to seventh in the conference in run defense.

Nobles, however, missed the entire game with an ankle injury suffered in practice Friday. Freshman Peter Lollis got the start in the middle, but the Braves rotated in freshmen Antonio Cooper and Lester Mosley and even went with some 3-4 sets late in the game.

The 269 yards rushing was the most the Braves have given up this season, topping the 237 allowed to Alabama State.

&uot;They had some success running the football, especially with the quarterback,&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;We changed up our defensive fronts and our defensive alignments We went with seven- and eight-man fronts, but we did enough defensively to give ourselves an opportunity to win the football game.

Nobles didn’t play at all. That was a big minus that we had today. But we’re not saying that’s the reason we lost the game.&uot;

As odd as it sounds, the Braves did have two chances to win the football game despite trouble stopping the run. Despite the final stats, the defense held tight in the red zone and made it difficult on the Jaguars to score. Four other Southern drives stalled out for field goals.

Cooper had 10 tackles and a forced fumble.

&uot;Cooper stepped in and did a good job,&uot; said weakside linebacker Dwan Wilson, who led the team with 11 tackles. &uot;We had trouble in the second half, in the fourth stopping the quarterback. We’re going to stay with the same game plan and make sure everybody stays focused. We really want to finish strong for the rest of the season.&uot;

The Braves held a 20-16 lead at the start of the fourth quarter and came up with three stops &045; Quentin Sullivan threw Southern’s Devin Herbert for a four-yard loss on first down before Ricks threw two incompletions &045; to force a punt.

But Lonnie Teagle fumbled, and the Jaguars recovered it at the Alcorn 25. From there the Jaguars kept it on the ground and eventually punched it in when Ricks ran in fourth and 4 at the 8 for a touchdown.

The Jaguars then kept it on the ground again on the next drive and went 58 yards on 12 plays &045; all rushing &045; before they were forced to try a field goal. Alcorn blocked the kick, but the Jaguars came up with the ball on the return and ran out the clock.

&uot;We went into the game knowing we had to establish our running game,&uot; Southern head coach Pete Richardson said. &uot;James Vernon got injured in the first half, but we kind of wore them down in the second half. We did an outstanding job of running the football. (Ricks) ran just like a running back. He ran well, him and Steel.

&uot;In the second half our running game came around. The main area of our team is the offensive line. When you get in trouble, you’ve got go with experience.&uot;

Adams did just as much damage running the ball as Ricks despite not scoring a touchdown. The junior transfer from Southern Miss had a huge 21-yard run on the second play of the Jaguars’ first touchdown drive and finished the second half with 98 yards.

Adams added runs of 5, 5, 6, 3 and 8 to set up Ricks’ 2-yard run on fourth down for a touchdown to give the Jaguars a 16-13 lead with 1:37 left in the third. It capped a 14-play, 73-yard drive that featured just one pass &045; a shovel pass from Ricks to Gerard Landry.

&uot;It feels good to do that,&uot; said Adams, who made his first start as a Jaguar. &uot;We didn’t expect to both have 100-yard games, but that’s how it happened.&uot;

Said Ricks: &uot;He’s my first cousin. We can pretty much read each other’s mind. It’s hard to stop him when he gets downhill. It was an ugly win, but a win is a win.&uot;