BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Noah Johnson threw for 138 yards and ran for 81, and Alcorn State’s defense smothered Southern in a 20-3 win on Saturday night in the Jaguars’ homecoming game.

Johnson entered the game ranked 13th in the country in completion percentage (.684) throwing for 660 yards and rushing for 273.

De’Shawn Waller plunged in from a yard out to end a four-play, 58-yard drive to give Alcorn State a 10-0 lead early in the third quarter. Alcorn (4-1, 3-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) used a short field after Leishaun Easley returned a short kickoff 23 yards to the Braves’ 42-yard line. Johnson had two carries for 56 yards — 36 and 20 — to get near the goal line.

Following Martel Fontenot’s 28-yard field goal for Southern (2-3, 1-1), Qwynnterrio Cole intercepted John Lampley’s pass and returned it for a 36-yard touchdown to pad the lead to 17-3 with 4:14 left in the third quarter.

Corey McCullough kicked a 22-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to make it 20-3. He also had a 32-yard field goal in the first half.

Lampley completed 9 of 26 pass attempts for 59 yards and Devon Benn carried it 21 times for 60 yards; his longest run was 10 yards. Alcorn State rushed for 243 yards and held Southern to 139 total yards.

Alabama A&M 21, Jackson State 16
Trevon Walters rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score late in the third quarter, to help Alabama A&M beat Jackson State.

Walters’ 1-yard TD run ended an eight-play, 61-yard drive and capped the scoring with 1:06 left in the third quarter.

Jackson State scored the first 16 points in the opening 16 minutes of the game, but Walters cut the deficit to 16-7 on a 3-yard run with 1:30 left in the first half.

Brian Jenkins Jr. scored on an 18-yard reverse to pull Alabama A&M (2-3, 1-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) to 16-14 early in the third quarter.

Jenkins had 10 catches for 112 yards for the Bulldogs. Aqeel Glass was 25 for 42 for 244 yards and an interception.

Jordan Johnson rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers (1-2, 0-1).