Sept. 30, 2006
Final Stats
Alabama State's game at Southern Saturday night was billed as a battle of teams seemingly headed in opposite directions. ASU was hot, having won two games in a row after dropping their first two. Southern was struggling, after losing two after winning their first two. However, turnovers, penalties and an inspired effort by the Jaguars were too much for the Hornets to overcome as they fell 38-20.
The Hornets started slow, with their first four possessions ending in a punt, a fumble and two interceptions. After being turned back twice by the Hornet defense, the Jaguars cashed in their third opportunity as Kendall Addison crashed through the ASU line and raced 22 yards for a touchdown.
After picking off ASU quarterback Alex Engram for the second time, Southern backup quarterback Bryant Lee - forced into the starting role by an injury to J. C. Lewis--faked a handoff and sprinted 33 yards into the end zone. ASU was down 14-0, and the crowd of 15, 247 loved every minute of it.
The Hornets followed a Jaguar field goal with a scoring drive of their own capped off by Jay Peck's dive from the one-yard line. The big play of the drive was a 33-yard completion to Lorenzo Hoffman from T'Chelpio Woods, who'd replaced an injured Alex Engram.
ASU seemed to be back in the game when Woods connected again with Hoffman on an apparent long touchdown pass. However, the play was overturned by a holding call. ASU would punt and never threaten the lead again.
ASU's turnover woes continued in third quarter when the snap went over punter Anthony Johnson's head. Johnson tried to kick the ball through the back of the end zone, but another holding negated his effort. The ball was declared turned over on downs, setting Southern up on the ASU two-yard line.
C. J. Bryant ran in it from there, and Southern held a 24-7 lead and went on to win 38-20.
"We played a good team in Southern," said ASU head coach Charles Coe. "They studied the film and knew what they wanted to try to take away from us and they did a good job of it. We didn't execute, we had way too many penalties and the turnovers just killed us.
For the Hornets, Jay Peck had his third straight 100-yard rushing game, gaining 104 yards on 29 carries. Despite the lopsided score, ASU held the ball for 10 minutes more than Southern and was only out gained by 15 yards.
"We're disappointed in our performance," Coe said. "We'll go back and go over everything, but we've got to get ready for a good Jackson State ball club."
The Hornets travel to Mobile to take on Jackson State in the Gulf Coast Classic Saturday at 8:30pm.
