Mississippi football roundup: Alcorn, Valley take shutout losses; JSU, MC and Delta State cruise to wins

Published 11:19 pm Saturday, September 10, 2022

NEW ORLEANS — Alcorn State had a hard time in the Big Easy.

Michael Pratt passed for 318 yards and three touchdowns, and Tulane romped past Alcorn 52-0 on Saturday.
Tulane (2-0) racked up 558 yards of total offense and recorded its first shutout win since 1997.

It was Alcorn’s worst loss since a 69-6 drubbing at the hands of Georgia Tech in the 2015 season opener, and first shutout since a 41-0 loss — also to Georgia Tech — in 2018.

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The Braves (0-2) had just 109 yards of total offense. Quarterbacks Aaron Allen and Markevion Quinn were a combined 5-of-14 passing for 49 yards.

Tulane used Kriston Esnard’s 26-yard field and two short touchdown runs by freshman Shaadie Clayton and Lawrence Keys III to take a 17-0 lead after one quarter.

Pratt connected with Jha’Quan Jackson for a 16-yard score and Tyrick James for a 25-yarder in the second quarter and a 31-0 lead at halftime.

Pratt threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Shae Wyatt on Tulane’s first possession of the second half to pad the lead.

Pratt completed 17 of 21 passes. Wyatt finished with five catches for 130 yards. Twelve Tulane players caught a pass.

Austin Peay 41, Mississippi Valley State 0
Mike DiLiello threw five touchdown passes, including three in the first quarter, and Austin Peay easily defeated Mississippi Valley State.

DiLiello completed 25 of 33 passes for 383 yards — the third highest total in school history. He had 307 yards and all five touchdowns by halftime as Austin Peay (2-1) took a 41-0 lead into intermission.

Drea McCray finished with 10 catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns for Austin Peay.

Jalani Eason completed just 5 of 18 passes for 34 yards, with two interceptions for Mississippi Valley State (0-2). The Delta Devils had 121 yards of offense.

Jackson State 16, Tennessee State 3
Shedeur Sanders threw a touchdown pass and Alejandro Mata kicked three short field goals to lead Jackson State over Tennessee State in the Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis.

The Jackson State defense, which has yet to allow a touchdown this season, had eight sacks and held Tennessee State (0-2) to 140 yards. Nyles Gaddy had three sacks, while Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig had 11 total tackles.
Sanders completed 30 of 44 passes for 276 yards. His 27-yard pass to Willie Gaines for the game’s only touchdown came with 2:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Mata’s field goals — 27, 28 and 30 yards — were all on red-zone possessions.

Mississippi College 26, Keiser 8
Marcus Williams scored two rushing touchdowns and Mississippi College (1-1) totaled 261 rushing yards as it beat Keiser in its home opener Saturday.

Choctaws quarterback DeAnte’ Smith-Moore threw one touchdown pass and ran for 63 yards. Smith-Moore’s 53-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Stephens with 10 seconds left in the first quarter put the Choctaws ahead 19-0.

Delta State 58, McKendree 34
Dohnte Meyers caught two long touchdown passes during a 28-point second quarter that propelled Delta State (2-0) past McKendree (1-1).

Meyers caught scoring passes of 79 and 75 yards from Patrick Shegog during the surge that gave the Statesmen a 35-14 lead at halftime. Those were the only two catches Meyers had in the game.

Shegog finished 12-of-18 passing for 296 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 36 yards and a touchdown. Kory Gainwell had 47 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and Kelvin Smith had a team-high 66 yards and a TD.

As a team, Delta State had 245 rushing yards and 541 yards of total offense.