Mississippi football roundup: Alcorn loses, JSU wins in homecoming games; Delta State and Belhaven cruise to victories

Published 10:03 pm Saturday, October 22, 2022

LORMAN — Alcorn State thrilled a sellout homecoming crowd at Jack Spinks Stadium with some big passing plays. Texas Southern disappointed them with a big second-half surge.

Texas Southern scored on an interception return and a punt return, and ripped off 20 straight points in the second half to beat Alcorn 34-27 on Saturday.

Alcorn (3-4, 2-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) lost its second game in a row. Three of its four losses this season have been by a total of 15 points.

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The Braves led 20-14 in this one, after Jarveon Howard scored on a 34-yard run early in the third quarter. In the first half, Aaron Allen threw touchdown passes of 65 yards to Monterio Hunt and 62 yards to Juan Anthony.

Allen also had an interception returned 48 yards for a touchdown by Texas Southern’s Raheme Fuller in the second quarter, was picked off two other times, and sacked four times. Allen was 27-of-41 passing for 379 yards and three touchdowns.

Howard had 135 yards and a TD on 23 carries. Anthony caught eight passes for 121 yards.

The Tigers took the lead for good in the third quarter, when Chaunzavia Lewis returned a punt 73 yards for a TD and a 24-20 advantage. Following another short punt, LaDarius Owens scored on a 10-yard run out to push the Texas Southern lead to 31-20 with 12:38 left in the game.

Howard caught a 16-yard TD pass from Allen with 16 seconds remaining, but Texas Southern (3-4, 3-2) recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Owens finished with 74 rushing yards and one touchdown. Texas Southern quarterback Andrew Body passed for just 97 yards and was sacked four times, but did have one touchdown and a team-high 79 rushing yards.

Jackson State 22, Campbell 14
Sy’veon Wilkerson ran for 116 yards and a touchdown, Alejandro Mata kicked three field goals, and Jackson State (7-0) beat Campbell (4-3) on homecoming to match its best start since 1983.

Jackson State scored 19 straight points after falling behind 7-3 in the first quarter. Shedeur Sanders threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Stevens early in the third quarter, and Wilkerson’s 4-yard TD run with 3:17 to go in the game put the Tigers ahead 22-7 and iced it.

Campbell scored on a 13-yard pass from Hajj-Malik Williams to Julian Hill in the final minute. Williams was 15-of-28 passing for 131 yards and one touchdown, and ran for 31 yards and another TD.

Sanders was 23-of-31 for 233 yards, his lowest passing yardage total of the season.

Aubrey Miller Jr. led JSU’s defense with 13 tackles and one sack.

Bethune-Cookman 45, Mississippi Valley State 35
Darnell Deas returned a second-half kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and QueShaun Byrd added a 26-yard touchdown run in the final minute as Bethune-Cookman (2-5, 2-2 SWAC) held off winless Mississippi Valley State (0-8, 0-5).

Former Port Gibson star Jacory Rankin caught six passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns for Valley, and Cobie Bates had a 97-yard kickoff return. The Delta Devils, though, never led after the early part of the second quarter.

Byrd had 116 yards on 17 carries and Jalon Jones had 127 on 15 carries to lead Bethune-Cookman. Jones also had 274 yards on 18-for-30 passing.

Jamari Jones led Mississippi Valley State with 218 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a team-high 129 yards on 16 carries.

Delta State 45, Shorter 10
Patrick Shegog passed for 233 yards and a touchdown, and added two rushing TDs as well, as Delta State (8-0, 5-0 Gulf South Conference) routed Shorter (2-6, 0-5) to remain undefeated.

Shegog threw a 10-yard TD pass to Dohnte Meyers and scored on a 1-yard run in the first half as Delta State zipped out to a 35-0 lead at halftime.

Christian Malloy had a 57-yard TD run and Kory Gainwell a 14-yard TD run in the first half, and Joseph Barton returned a fumble 71 yards for another score.

Delta State totaled 241 rushing yards as a team.

West Florida 45, Mississippi College 17
Peewee Jarrett threw three touchdown passes, C.J. Wilson scored three rushing touchdowns, and West Florida (6-1, 4-1 GSC) pulled away from Mississippi College (4-4, 3-2) in the second half.

Wilson had a 1-yard TD run late in the third quarter and a 3-yard TD run with 4:34 left in the fourth as West Florida outscored the Choctaws 24-7 in the second half. Ra’veion Hargrove had 139 rushing yards and Shomari Mason 137 for the Argonauts.

Mississippi College had a three-game winning streak snapped. Marcus Williams led the Choctaws with 68 rushing yards and one touchdown, and quarterback John Henry White ran for 63 yards.

Rhodes College 31, Millsaps 7
Aaron Cooper had five receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown, and also scored on an 11-yard run as Rhodes College (3-4, 1-2 Southern Athletic Association) took care of Millsaps College (3-4, 3-1).

Evan Byrd added a 44-yard interception return for Rhodes, which scored 21 unanswered points in the second half.

Nic Hayes caught six passes for 117 yards for Millsaps. The Majors only had 56 rushing yards.

Belhaven 42, Southern Virginia 6
Kolbe Blunt ran for 174 yards and three touchdowns, and Belhaven piled up 392 rushing yards as a team as it rolled past Southern Virginia (0-7, 0-4 USA South) on homecoming.

Tim Johnson also had 91 rushing yards on only six carries for Belhaven (6-1, 4-1). The Blazers averaged 7.5 yards per carry, and have run for 884 yards in their last two games.

Fifteen Belhaven players had at least one carry on Saturday, and eight caught a pass. The Blazers also blocked two punts.