MOBILE, Ala. – Having just passed its first significant test last weekend, the University of South Alabama football team faces another when it takes on Edward Waters (Fla.) Saturday in the Wiregrass Football Classic.
The contest, which kicks off at 3 p.m., will take place in Dothan, Ala., at Rip Hewes Stadium, marking the first time since its inception that the program will play outside of Mobile and its home at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
“We’re excited about playing somewhere else. We love Ladd Stadium obviously, but we have to learn to play on the road and this will be our first time doing that,” commented Jaguar head coach Joey Jones. “We have to do a good job of planning our trip down to a T and make it as similar as we can to when we are at home; the only difference being that we are in a different hotel and a different stadium. If we do that we will be fine.”
“It will be new for us because we’re used to coming to our home stadium and going through the Jag Prowl,” added sophomore tight end Richard Ross. “Now we’re in new territory, and we’re not sure how to go about it because we’ve never done it before.”
The test the Jags passed Saturday was two-fold: the opponent, Nicholls State, was the first NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA I-AA) school the program has faced, and USA fell behind in a game (twice) for the first time in nine outings. The Jags would score 20 points in the second quarter to take the lead for good, then use Kendall Houston’s second touchdown of the afternoon on the opening play of the fourth quarter to pull away from the Colonels to move to 2-0 on the season.
“It was a good test for us to see our maturity level as a team and see how we would react to some real adversity against a good opponent who was well-coached,” senior linebacker Charlie Higgenbotham said. “I would have hoped we would have been ready, as much as we have practiced those types of situations. That’s where our senior leadership and the guys who play were ready for that. We had been warned that they were a good team, that things were going to happen and there would be adjustments we would have to make.”
Another senior, quarterback Brennan Sim, entered the NSU game late in the first quarter after Myles Gibbon suffered an injury, and would go on to guide the Jag offense on five scoring drives and to 490 yards of total offense. He finished the contest 10-of-12 passing for a career-best 185 yards, while the three USA quarterbacks that saw action connected with nine different receivers to roll up 208 yards through the air. Ross led that group as the only individual with more than one catch, posting four receptions for 80 yards including the first of his career that went for a 47-yard touchdown to tie the score 14-14 on the initial play of the second quarter.
The Jaguars’ starting quarterback against EWC will be determined this week. “Myles is day-to-day right now, and questionable for Saturday. We’ll evaluate him, but I would say there is less than 50 percent chance that he will play and we will have the other guys ready to go,” stated Jones. “Myles was playing well and did nothing wrong so we’re not going to take the starting job away from him. As we go through the next couple weeks in practice and Brennan shows he can beat him out, we’re always open to that. We always create competition in practice, but I’m not going to bench a guy just because someone else came in and played well when he got hurt.”
Houston and Brandon Ross each went over 100 yards — the first time that has happened in the program’s short history — to help the ground attack churn out 282 yards while averaging better than six yards per carry. The former led the Jags with 116 yards and two scores on 12 attempts, while the latter rushed 19 times for 115 yards and a touchdown. Santuan McGee contributed as well with 27 yards including an eight-yard scoring run that gave USA the lead for good with just over 11 minutes to go in the first half.
A quartet of inside linebackers combined to rack up 25 tackles against the Colonels, led by Justin Dunn with nine. Enrique Williams, who leads the squad with 12 stops through two games, collected six, while both Higgenbotham and Jake Johnson were credited with five. Dunn forced a fumble that was recovered by Ken Barefield and led to another USA touchdown for a 27-14 halftime advantage, and Tim Harvey intercepted a fourth-quarter pass as the unit forced multiple turnovers for the second time in as many contests.
After giving up 174 yards in the first 15 minutes, the Jag defense allowed only 198 the rest of the way.
Every USA special teams unit played a part in the win as well. T.J. Glover finished with 116 yards on kick returns, highlighted by a 69-yard runback after the Jaguars fell behind for the first time ever — Ross would carry twice to cover the final 11 yards, tying the score just 48 seconds after Nicholls got on the board. Scott Garber averaged 42.8 yards per punt with a career-best three ending inside the NSU-20, Erling Riis blocked a punt in the fourth quarter out of the back of the end zone for a safety and Jordan Means — starting for the first time — connected on four extra points and a 28-yard field goal to close out the scoring.
The Tigers picked up their first win of the season over the club team from New Orleans Saturday, moving to 1-3 with a 26-21 victory in Kingsland, Ga. EWC had allowed an average of 55.7 points in dropping decisions to Brevard (N.C.), Bethune-Cookman and North Greenville to start the year.
Jonathan Johnson caught a pair of touchdown passes from Brandon Turman, with the second giving the Tigers the lead for good 23-21 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the contest. He would finish with five receptions for 110 yards — both game-high totals — while Turman was 14-of-29 for 219 yards. RocKarius King ran 20 times for 137 yards and a score as well, as EWC outgained the Privateers 394-284.
Defensively, Denton Thompson posted a game-high-tying nine total stops, with 3½ of those behind the line including 1½ sacks. He also broke up two passes. Quinton Warren chipped in with five tackles and Tevin McNair was credited with four.
Alex Sierra made a pair of field goals in the second half as the Tigers answered 21 straight UNO points over the final 13 minutes and 46 seconds of the opening half by outscoring the Privateers 12-0 after the intermission. Jerry Martin averaged 36.3 yards on three punts, but also had a kick blocked that UNO returned for a touchdown.
“We’re going to prepare just like we did for Nicholls State,” explained Ross. “We don’t have the same time to prepare, but we’re going to have to just go in and study film and not take them lightly.”
“Our coaches and leadership really do a great job in keeping us grounded and prepared,” Higgenbotham observed. “This week we’ll practice hard, and as long as we prepare well then we’ll be okay.”
Tickets for the Wiregrass Football Classic are $12 for adults and $8 for students that show identification, and can be purchased by calling the Dothan Leisure Service Department at (334) 615-3700 or at the stadium on the day of the game beginning at 1 p.m. Parking at Rip Hewes Stadium is free, with the lot open so that fans can start tailgating at their leisure Saturday morning.
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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