MOBILE, Ala. - How dominant was the University of South Alabama football team's defense Saturday? Even without two touchdowns from their teammates on the other side of the ball, the Jaguars still would have walked away with a double-digit victory.
Zach Brownell intercepted three passes - returning one for a touchdown - and Clifton Crews added a fumble he ran back for a score as well to help the Jags move to 3-0 in their first-ever season with a 31-3 defeat of Georgia Military J.C. at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. GMJC entered the day ranked 14th in this week's National Junior College Athletic Association poll.
The only thing keeping the Jaguars from recording their second shutout in a row was a 31-yard Evan Kay field goal in the final minute of the third quarter. USA gave up just 10 first downs and 234 yards of total offense - that included a season-low 88 yards on the ground - while allowing the Bulldogs (3-3) to convert only 1-of-15 third downs.
Brownell collected six total stops and Crews was credited with four, while Justin Dunn paced the unit with a career-best 11 total tackles. Anton Graphenreed and Charlie Higgenbotham chipped in with five stops each also, helping the Jags hold GMJC to less than four yards per play and three per rush.
"It's a defensive back's dream to catch the ball and realize there's nothing but grass in front of you," stated Brownell, whose 26-yard interception return for a touchdown with less than two minutes left in the second quarter provided the Jaguars with a 14-0 halftime advantage. "One of our goals each week is to score on defense. It's fun out there making plays, especially scoring, because we don't get to do that too much."
In the third quarter, Crews extended the USA lead to 21-0 when he sacked Chris Hart, forcing a fumble that he picked up and ran back 10 yards for a touchdown. "I saw the play-action, and the quarterback never really saw me coming," he recalled. "I wanted to get the ball at first, but I had to secure the tackle. I got him down and saw the ball pop out, so I just jumped on it and ran for the end zone as fast as I could."
"Those guys want to get a shutout if they can, but they love scoring touchdowns as well - it's always fun for them to do that. Those are game changers," USA head coach Joey Jones said. "Obviously, we were great defensively and played a solid game against a very good football program.
"Zach has a nose for the football, he's just a very smart football player," he continued. "The one he ran back for a touchdown right before the half was certainly a big play in the game."
Brandon Ross keyed the Jaguar offense, rushing for a game-high 79 yards and two touchdowns on 15 attempts. After a scoreless first quarter - it was the first time this season USA failed to score in the opening 15 minutes - he capped a drive in which the Jags would march 67 yards in 10 plays and four minutes, six seconds with a seven-yard rush up the middle for a 7-0 lead with 13-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first half. He reached the end zone again with 10-and-a-half minutes left in the contest, scoring from 10 yards out to wrap up a four-play, 54-yard possession.
"Every time I get in there I think about end zone," Ross commented. "Every play I feel like I have to get to the secondary - if I can make one man miss, I can score."
Santuan McGee collected 60 yards on eight rushes and Anthony Mostella added nine carries for 34 yards. As a team, the Jags produced 199 of their 251 total yards on the ground.
"We knew coming into this game that they were one of the best teams we'll play all year," said quarterback Myles Gibbon, who accounted for 64 yards of total offense. "You have to give credit to them, they're a good team and a good defense. They were coming with pressure, but we studied their different blitzes and how to block them all week - our offensive line did a fantastic job today."
Lawson McGlon closed out the scoring with a 39-yard field goal with just over two minutes to go.
Demery Hawkins matched Dunn for game-high honors after making 11 stops, helping the Bulldogs limit USA to a season-low yardage total. Jakar Hamilton recorded eight stops and D'Mario Gunn had six.
"We knew that their defense was very good. They fly to the football and hit you," observed Jones. "They gave us some problems and we knew that would happen."
Hart posted 185 yards of total offense, but was only able to complete 15-of-33 passes to go along with four turnovers. Tobias Palmer ran for 38 yards and caught three passes for 22 more, while Joseph Davis used a 47-yard completion in the third quarter - which put the Bulldogs on the USA-15 yard line - to set up their only points of the game.
"You have to take your hats off to South Alabama. They played well, played consistently and played hard," GMJC head coach Bert Williams commented. "We got what we expected out there. We just didn't expect to be as generous with the ball as we were - we gave them touchdowns two and three on turnovers. Those two plays put us in a bad way."
USA's Scott Garber also contributed to that, averaging 45.3 yards per punt with two downed inside the 20-yard line.
Each team had a big special teams play early on that they were not able to take advantage of. Ralph Turner returned the opening kickoff 36 yards to the GMJC-49, but after picking up one first down on a Ross 10-yard gain the Jaguars' first drive stalled. USA would force a three-and-out on the Bulldogs' first possession, however Kay's punt hit Graphenreed and was recovered by Gunn to give GMJC the ball at the USA-42. After three straight incompletions, though, the Jaguars forced another punt.
The Jags would respond again following a turnover by the offense in the second quarter. Dale Peterman ran back a pick 18 yards to give the Bulldogs the ball at the USA-34 with just over seven minutes to go, but on GMJC's third play of the ensuing drive Brownell intercepted a Hart pass at the four-yard line to give the Jaguars the ball back.
Brownell's third interception came midway through the third quarter, as he stepped in front of Hart's throw at the goal line to preserve the Jaguars' 21-0 edge.
USA will next be in action Saturday when it plays Louisburg (N.C.) J.C., with kickoff schedule for 4 p.m. It will be the first time that the Jags play in back-to-back weeks.
"We were ready for everything they threw at us. That just goes back to coaching and team play," Dunn said. "We played our butts off today. What we did was nice, but we're never satisfied as a defense. We have another opponent next week that we need to prepare for."
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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