HOUSTON - A 21-point third-quarter explosion keyed by special teams propelled Alabama State to a 43-29 win over Texas Southern in a wild Southwestern Athletic Conference shootout at Delmar Stadium in a rematch of last season's SWAC Championship Game.
The Hornets (5-1 overall, 5-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) are off to their best start since the 2005 season and scored 30+ points for the fourth time this season, all victories.
“It's a huge win for us,” head coach
Reggie Barlow said. “There's so much parity in this league and we have other teams on the East that are winning and having success. It's going to come down to the wire. A team that has no losses or one loss is the team that has the best chance to go to the SWAC Championship.”
Alabama State made several big plays and took advantage of several Texas Southern mistakes in to take control in the pivotal third quarter.
After Texas Southern (2-3, 1-3) regained the lead 22-16 on its first drive of the third quarter,
John Andrews' 40-yard kickoff return led to a quick ASU scoring drive. A 30-yard pass from
Nick Andrews to
Greg Jenkins on a throwback pass set up a Jenkins to
Nick Andrews four-yard scoring pass to give the Hornets the lead for good, 23-22 with 7:46 to play in the quarter.
“John had a big return there for us,” Barlow said. “We had some guys make some plays on special teams, but Texas Southern helped us on special teams also. They couldn't get the snap right and we were able to take advantage.”
On TSU's next drive, a fourth-down snap went over the punter Francois Ejiofor's head into the end zone.
Jazeric Peterson recovered the ball for an Alabama State touchdown to extend the lead to 30-22 with 6:00 to play in the third quarter.
A one-yard TSU punt and
Donovan Masline's seven-yard punt return gave the Hornets possession at the TSU 21. A 14-yard reception by tight end
Justin Robinson led to
Quendarius McKibben's two-yard touchdown run to extend the Hornets' lead to 37-22 with 3:04 to play in the third quarter.
“It was good. We are happy to get the win,” Barlow said. “It was a little bit of a sloppy game, but guys played hard and did some good things. We'll take it.”
The lead changed hands six times in the first 2+ quarters.
Greg Jenkins' one-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter as the Hornets took a 10-7 lead.
A bad Texas Southern punt snap helped the Hornets regain the lead prior to halftime.
Bobby Wenzig made one of his five field goals to give Alabama State a 16-14 lead. Wenzig scored 19 points while averaging 34.0 yards on six punts, with two downed inside the 20 and a long 61.
“Bobby can really kick the ball,” Barlow said. “We were happy to see him kick like that. I knew he would have a pretty decent game when I saw him hit a 65-yard field goal in pregame. I think he was pretty amped up.”
Nick Andrews' touchdown catch was the 25
th of his career, adding to his school record. He also moved to second in Hornets' history in receiving yards with 2,311, surpassing Damon Hodge (2,280) and Reggie Brown (2,271).
