MOBILE, Ala. - Brandon Ross collected a season-best three touchdown runs, helping spark a 20-point second quarter as the University of South Alabama would pull away for a 41-7 football victory Saturday over Louisburg (N.C.) J.C. at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Ross would finish with 138 yards on 13 attempts as the Jaguars won for the fourth time in as many outings in their first-ever season.  The Bulldogs, who were No. 18 in this week's National Junior College Athletic Association poll, dropped to 5-2.

"I always practice keeping my feet moving. I'm still trying to get better at it," he said.  "I do not want to get tackled by one person.  If I'm going to get tackled, I'd rather get tackled by a group of defenders."

"We challenged him to run like that every play.  He's starting to understand that he's got a 230-pound body that's hard to tackle," commented Jag head coach Joey Jones.  "When you lower your shoulders and a free safety is coming up to tackle a guy like that, that's a tough thing to tackle.  When he learns to run like that all the time, he's got a chance to be a great one.  He's got a chance to be a very special running back and probably play beyond college."

Ross reached the end zone for the first time on the day with just under eight minutes to go in the first half, rushing 10 yards up the middle to give USA a 14-0 advantage.  The Jaguars only needed to drive 50 yards for the score after Gabriel Mass recovered a Karl-David Birkenfeld fumble at midfield, with Myles Gibbon finding Lamontis Gardner for a 26-yard gain to put USA in the red zone.  After a Hurricane three-and-out, the Jags would march down the field 60 yards in four plays in less than a minute-and-a-half, with Ross again reaching the end zone - this time from two yards out - for a 21-0 edge with four-and-a-half minutes to go in the second quarter.

Ross would score again less than a minute into the third quarter, capping a three-play, 34-yard drive after the second-half kickoff with a 20-yard touchdown run.  It's the third time in four games that he has recorded multiple scores.

"Brandon is a great running back; everyone has seen that," commented Gibbon.  "Even when he gets tired and we take him out, we have another three running backs that can get in the game and get the ball rolling.  Having good running backs makes our lives a lot easier."

The Jaguar offense would finish with 474 yards while averaging nearly eight yards a snap.  Ralph Turner rushed twice for 49 yards, Santuan McGee ran for 41 yards and Eli Smith chipped in with 30 on the ground as well.  Both Gibbon and Brennan Sim completed six passes as a trio of quarterbacks combined to go 13-of-17 for 164 yards.  Corey Besteda, Drew Ezell, Kevin Helms and Courtney Smith each caught two balls, with Smith leading the group with 25 yards.

USA would limit the Hurricanes to only 73 yards on 33 first-half snaps, with LJC ending the contest with 222 yards overall.  Josh Chestang, Justin Dunn and Anton Graphenreed were all credited with five stops to lead the Jaguars, with Chestang recording three tackles for loss including a pair of sacks.  Anthony Taylor added 1.5 tackles for loss among his four stops, with Bryson James, Jerron Mitchell and Alex Phifer all collecting four tackles as well.

The Jags would record 71 yards lost on the ground while limiting LJC to an opponent-low 52 yards rushing.

"We knew they were going to be good and that they had a good quarterback, so we had to be prepared," linebacker Charlie Higgenbotham stated.  "We really just wanted to focus on their formations and passing attack, overall I think we did a pretty good job.  I think we need to work on some tackling and a few other issues, but I'm sure we'll see those on film."

The teams began the contest by trading possessions, and after USA forced a three-and-out to get the ball back again Ross broke free for a 60-yard gain that gave the Jags the ball at the LJC-5.  Anthony Mostella opened the scoring on the next snap with a touchdown run up the middle as the Jaguars took a 7-0 lead with 8:43 left in the first quarter.

Despite Ross' big play, the teams would combine to record less than 100 yards of offense and punt seven times in the opening 15 minutes.

Helms closed out a second quarter in which the Jags' outgained the Hurricanes 173-46 by adding to USA's advantage 53 seconds before the break when Gibbon found him alone in the left corner of the end zone for a six-yard touchdown reception.  The Jaguars would have a 27-0 advantage at the intermission.

In addition to Ross' third touchdown, McGee scored on a 1-yard run with 3:13 to go in the quarter.  The play ended an 80-yard drive, the Jaguars' longest of the season, while making the score 41-0.

With 68 yards on a pair of kick returns in the second half, McGee finished with a season-high 109 all-purpose yards.

The Hurricanes would avoid the shutout by scoring on a one-yard Birkenfeld run with 10 seconds to go in the third quarter.  The quarterback hit Barry Flood for a 30-yard gain on the previous play to move LJC into the red zone for the first time in the contest.

"We came into this game with the mind-set to win it.  We had a great chance and thought we could do a really good job," stated Hurricane head coach John Sala.  "Give a lot of credit to [South Alabama].  When they are that sound fundamentally and you have those types of players, that is a hard combination to beat.  We go against better players all the time, but none that are that well-coached.  That (combination) is just hard to beat at any level."

Flood would lead all players with six catches for 101 yards, with Jameze Massey and D.J. McFadden each collecting four receptions as well.  Birkenfeld completed 15-of-23 attempts for 159 yards, adding 11 on the ground for 170 yards of total offense.  Demario Askew had 35 yards on 14 carries to lead LJC's rushing attack.

The Hurricanes' Kenneth Boulware recorded a game-best 12 tackles, including nine solo stops, while Justin Thomas was credited with eight stops and Derrick Finch posted seven.

Although LJC held the ball for six more minutes than the Jaguars and ran four more plays, it lost more than twice as many yards on penalties than USA after being flagged 14 times for 123 yards.

"I thought we came out and played fairly well.  The biggest thing we're challenging our kids with is no matter who we're playing, we've got to play with character," Jones said.  "We've got to practice with character, we've got to work hard to study our opponents film, and we've got to not change anything about the way we prepare for a game. That was our challenge this week. I thought the kids did that, they were prepared."

The Jaguars will have next weekend off - the last time this fall that will happen - before wrapping up the regular season with three straight games.  First up will be Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, with kick off at Ladd-Peebles Stadium set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.

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).

-USA-