MOBILE, Ala. – With both schools entering play averaging better than 425 yards of total offense per contest, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if the University of South Alabama football team found itself in a shootout Saturday against Henderson State. Those units didn’t disappoint in the end.
C.J. Bennett threw for 280 yards and Kendall Houston added 140 rushing as the Jaguars collected a school-record 542 total yards in defeating the Reddies 37-31 on Homecoming weekend at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
USA — which moved to 9-0 this year, and 16-0 since the program’s inception last fall — will close out its second season with a 6 p.m. matchup against Arkansas-Monticello at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Thursday.
HSU (6-4) countered with 465 yards of total offense, the most ever allowed by the Jags, as Nick Hardesty completed 23-of-43 attempts for 359 yards and three scores.
“I want to congratulate Henderson State for playing a very good football game. We knew watching on film that they were a very good team,” Jaguar head coach Joey Jones stated. “But I probably didn’t do a great job of getting the team ready in my opinion. That’s probably the first time since I’ve been here that I didn’t think we were 100 percent sharp like we normally are. And I’ll take the blame for that. We can make all the excuses we want, but the bottom line is there are no excuses.
“That’s not to take anything away from Henderson State, they have a great football team. I kept trying to tell our team, and I guess they didn’t hear that.”
“It was a hard-fought game,” said HSU head coach Scott Maxfield, “but we didn’t play real well or with a sense of urgency early in the game until it was too late. South Alabama did a good job of controlling the field position, their punter did a good job and had some punts that kept us backed up. They also did a good job of slowing down our passing game early, it really didn’t get clicking until it was too late.”
Bennett ended up 20-of-26 passing, and though he did not throw for a touchdown he scored on a pair of one-yard sneaks; the second, with two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the contest, sealed the victory by making the score 37-24. The other opened the scoring in the second half, helping the Jaguars extend to a 27-17 advantage as USA drove 95 yards in 10 plays and three minutes, 42 seconds.
He hit nine different receivers, including six who would finish with multiple catches. T.J. Glover led the group with five for 78 yards — both career-high totals — as he ended up with a career-best 189 all-purpose yards, the most ever recorded by a Jag. The freshman added five carries for 41 yards, returned two kicks for 57 yards and a punt for 13 more.
Jeremé Jones posted four receptions for 37 yards, and Kevin Helms chipped in with three for 33, both career highs as well. Courtney Smith, Ralph Turner and Corey Waldon added two catches each, with the latter finishing with 59 yards.
“We saw that we could throw the ball a lot against them on film, so we ran a lot of pass plays and set up play-action stuff, and the field opened up a little bit,” explained Bennett. “I threw for a lot of yards, but we had a lot of stuff underneath with our receivers making great plays weaving in and out, so I think that helped me out a lot.”
Houston carried 27 times, leading USA’s rushing attack for the second consecutive outing and third time in the last four games. It was the fourth occasion this fall that he has gained 100-plus yards on the ground.
Hardesty threw scores to three different players, with Darius Davis and Jazz Scott each grabbing one among their six receptions; the former had 95 yards, finishing with 281 all-purpose yards after returning five kickoffs for 186, the latter 53. Elliot Hebert caught five balls for 57 yards — he was also the team leader with 15 carries for 63 yards — while Sean McGrath chipped in with four receptions for 48 and Nick Johnson used a 95-yard touchdown catch with 7:46 remaining, which made the score 30-24, to finish with a game-high 106 yards.
“We knew they were good on film. They’ve been throwing for 400 yards all year long, so it didn’t surprise us,” Jones stated. “Their quarterback is a really good player and puts the ball on the money; that worried us going into this game. We knew that they had some really good receivers and some good athletes on that team.”
The Jaguars extended to a 10-point lead with just over three minutes left in the third period as Bennett accounted for 76 yards on the 95-yard march, including the one-yard sneak at 3:06 that made the score 27-17. After Houston began the possession with a three-yard carry, Bennett picked up a first down with a 13-yard completion to Turner. On third-and-three from the USA-28, Bennett hit Jones for 12 yards to move the chains again, and he followed with a 19-yard pass to Bryant Lavender — a personal foul on the play put the Jags at the HSU 26-yard line. Facing third-and-nine, he found Waldon down the middle for a pickup of 24 yards leading to the first of his scores.
A 13-yard punt return from Glover set up the Jaguars with a short field, and after a 14-yard run from Santuan McGee Lawson McGlon tacked on a career-best 40-yard field goal five seconds before the end of the quarter to push the lead to 30-17.
Romelle Jones blocked Eric Torres’ 30-yard field-goal attempt early in the final quarter, and USA moved 65 yards before a fumble was recovered by Junior Jean at the HSU-5 to prevent the Jaguars from adding to their advantage. On the Reddies’ first play from scrimmage, Hardesty found Johnson for a 95-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to pull HSU within six.
USA managed to run over five minutes off the clock before Bennett’s second score, but the Reddies again made it a one-possession game when Hardesty hit Scott in the flat for a one-yard scoring pass with 57 seconds to go. Smith recovered the onside kick to prevent HSU from completing the comeback.
The Jags took an early 3-0 edge after receiving the opening kickoff and moving 39 yards in eight plays before McGlon kicked a 37-yard field goal. It looked like USA had gone ahead with a touchdown when Bennett scrambled on third down, buying time before hitting Turner in the end zone, but the Jaguars were called for an ineligible man downfield.
The teams traded turnovers — one play after Anton Graphenreed intercepted a pass for the Jags, the Reddies’ William Taylor recovered a fumble on their own 38-yard line — before HSU was able to march down the field for a score. USA appeared to have forced a three-and-out, but Scott took a direct snap and ran a fake punt 25 yards for a first down to keep the drive alive. Hardesty tacked on another first down two snaps later with an 18-yard pass to Davis, with the duo hooking up again for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 6:45 remaining in the opening quarter as the Reddies took their first lead.
USA answered with another extended drive, regaining the lead when Houston scored from four yards out — the third straight week that the freshman has reached the end zone — to cap a seven-play, 64-yard drive that made it 10-7 two-and-a-half minutes before the end of the period. That advantage would last 15 seconds, however, after Davis returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a score.
The Jags took advantage of another HSU miscue early in the second period, taking over at midfield after Tyrone Williams forced a fumble that Enrique Williams recovered with 13:51 left in the first half.
Both Williams finished with a career-best nine tackles to lead the Jag defense, with Enrique also breaking up two passes.
Bennett connected with Jones for a gain of eight yards on third-and-four, and he hit Lamontis Gardner on the next play for 17 more yards to move USA into the red zone; after a 12-yard sack by Aaron Plante, though, the Jaguars cut their deficit to one with a 38-yard McGlon field goal at 9:41.
Torres would answer with a 31-yard field goal after the Reddies moved the ball 74 yards in 11 plays and four minutes, 24 seconds, to make the score 17-13 with just over five minutes left in the second quarter. But, USA regained the lead, 20-17, with 3:43 to go before the break after an 18-yard Glover touchdown run ended a four-play, 70-yard possession. Jones’ 34-yard pickup on a reverse helped key the drive, while it was the first time Glover has reached the end zone since the Jags’ season-opening victory over Sept. 4. The Jaguars forced a three-and-out, but after a 23-yard completion from Bennett to Glover, Ricky Davis deflected a pass intended for Smith in the end zone that Jeremy Rodenburg was able to pick off.
Rodenburg’s 10 tackles led all players. Shane Evans and Plante were credited with nine each for the Reddies, while Taylor Stone posted seven stops and Micah McDonald had six. Plante made 1½ tackles behind the line of scrimmage, and Jean had one as well to go along with a forced fumble and the other he recovered.
Ken Barefield and Jonathan Cameron joined Williams in defending two passes, as USA finished with nine in the contest. Justin Dunn posted six tackles, while Cameron, Randon Carnathan, Graphenreed and Bryson James made four each. Kendell Bagnerise had the Jags’ only tackle for loss.
“We are not pleased at all with our performance tonight. To us, we lose when any points are scored,” Graphenreed commented. “That’s a blow to us, so we just need to go back to the drawing board and pick it up at practice.”
“The coaches emphasized that those guys were great at the passing game all week,” added Jerron Mitchell, who finished with a pair of stops. “A lot of times we shot ourselves in the foot with mistakes and opened up things for them. We need to eliminate those mistakes and get back to the way we were playing in the beginning of the season; forcing takeaways and basically playing physical.”
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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