win over Jackson State

By

ADAM DAIGLE

JACKSON &045; Consider it a huge debt repaid just when it was needed most.

Alcorn’s defense came up huge against the run with perhaps their best stand all year to bail out of offense what suffered a serious blow when senior quarterback Donald Carrie went down in the second quarter with an injury.

The absence resulted in a much-maligned offensive attack, but leave it to the defense. The unit held tough despite injuries of its own to help get a 16-14 win over Jackson State in the Capital City Classic and finish the season on a positive note for the second straight year.

&uot;We knew we had to step up and make plays,&uot; senior linebacker Dwan Wilson said. &uot;We practiced all week we were going to stop the run. We knew they were going to throw some to keep us off balance. We knew if we flew around to the ball, good things were going to happen.

&uot;All we wanted to do was win. We’re not where we wanted to be, but at least we’ve got the same number of wins (as last year). It gives them something to build on for next year.&uot;

The Braves’ defense used the biggest stage of the season to play their best, although the biggest stage for them would have been in the SWAC Championship. The win allowed them to finish the season with seven wins for the second straight season, the most in any two years under head coach Johnny Thomas, and beat archrival Jackson State for the second straight year.

Last year the Braves stopped Jackson to end an eight-game skid to the Tigers, but this one was plenty tougher than last year’s 49-25 runaway.

&uot;You have to fight,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;You’re not going to come in and beat your in-state rival. It’s just like the Mississippi Valley game where we had to come back. I think Jackson is a heck of a football team and has a heck of a football coach who is trying to get things together. We just played extremely hard and were happy to come out with a victory.&uot;

The defense had to rise to the occasion after Carrie &045; playing in the final game of a very productive career &045; went down with a separated shoulder at the start of the second quarter. Carrie was forced to exit the game due to injury for the first time in his career, and backup Oliver Bozeman took the offense the rest of the way.

The Tigers had cut the lead to 16-14 early in the fourth quarter but couldn’t must a drive after that against Alcorn’s defense. It marked the end of another disappointing campaign for the Tigers, who finished with a losing record for the second straight season under embattled head coach James Bell.

&uot;We had a tough schedule,&uot; Bell said. &uot;Jackson State played the toughest schedule in the country. I don’t care what anybody says. Who has played that kind of schedule and played them well? Have we improved in Ws? No. Have we improved in attitudes? Yes. Have we improved in character? Yes. We’ve made all those improvements.&uot;

The Tigers answered in the fourth after both teams merely exchanged punts throughout the third quarter. They held Alcorn to punt, and heat from JSU forced punter Shane Phillips to try and run for a first down before he was tackled a yard shy of the marker at the Alcorn 44.

From there the Tigers put together a drive that featured passes from Brian Green to Byron Johnson (10 yards) and Jor’dan Beard (14 yards) to get to the Alcorn 18. Four plays later David Kennebrew ran it in from 5 yards out for a touchdown to cut it to 16-14 with 9:24 left.

After that, however, the Tigers couldn’t manage a first down against a defense that knew it had its backs to the wall with starters Leo Nobles out at middle linebacker and Ken Hobbs out at defensive back.

&uot;We had a mental lapse in our blocking scheme, and the punter decided to run with it,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;Our defense bended during that time, but it didn’t break. We came right back and shut them down, and that’s what we had to do. What I was really, really happy with today was our defense played very, very well. Coach (LaTraia) Jones and his staff did a great job of shutting down their run attack.&uot;

The Braves followed that score with their biggest stand, throwing JSU for a loss on two of their first three plays on their next possession. After the Tigers forced Alcorn to punt, they struggled again as Green threw incomplete on third down at the Tigers’ 15 and Charles Lee was stopped for a 2-yard gain on a draw play on fourth and 3.

The Braves made the plays when they had the opportunity earlier behind Bozeman, and the freshman hit Kelvin Clark on a 21-yard pass just before halftime for a touchdown for a 16-7 lead.