MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama defense forced a school game-record seven turnovers, while Demetre Baker and Jordan Means supplied all but six points to help lead the Jaguars to a 28-3 football victory over Henderson (Ark.) State Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Starting with Enrique Williams’ interception on the Reddies’ second drive of the game, the Jags (5-3) picked off four passes and recovered three fumbles while holding HSU (4-4) to just 210 yards of total offense; that was the lowest allowed by the unit this fall. Clifton Crews forced a fumble that Gabe Loper recovered on the next Reddie drive, while Romelle Jones recovered a second-quarter fumble as USA scored 19 of its 28 points off turnovers.
Anthony Taylor and Desmond LaVelle had third-quarter interceptions and Anton Graphenreed added one in the fourth period, while Will Thompson ended the final Reddie possession of the night with a strip of HSU quarterback Kevin Rodgers that he recovered.
Loper led the group with seven tackles, while LaVelle and Ben Giles contributed five apiece. Thompson chipped in with four stops, as did Ken Barefield and Charles Harris, helping the Jaguars limit HSU to an opponent-low 55 yards rushing; Reddie quarterbacks combined to complete 18-of-41 attempts for 155 yards as well. HSU was 0-of-10 on third-down conversions and held the ball for under 23 minutes.
The Reddies ended the Jags’ shutout bid with a 30-yard Eric Torres field goal with 33 seconds to go in the third quarter.
In last year’s matchup between the two schools — won by the Jags 37-31 on Nov. 6 in Mobile — HSU managed to collect 465 yards of total offense, the most allowed by USA in its first 24 games.
“Those takeaways were big and we had a short field on offense a good bit tonight, and that’s always a good thing,” said USA head coach Joey Jones. “I thought we really played a good game defensively for the entire game. We didn’t give up any big plays, and if we don’t do that then we are going to be very hard to score on. They did that tonight and I was proud of them.
“We were prepared — the coaches had them prepared and we had a good week of practice. We match up with teams that are in the spread formation pretty well. I think our athletes fit the spread defensively, and we had a good pass rush tonight; that’s one thing we haven’t had in a while. We put pressure on the quarterback, and we were hitting them and trying to knock the ball loose.”
“As a defense, we executed well and we went after the ball,” Williams added. “That’s one thing we practiced this week and it showed today. I think we really needed that as a defense.”
“[Assistant] Coach [Bill] Clark was basically teaching take-aways all week at practice,” said Crews. “They throw the ball a lot, he just wanted us to make plays when the ball was in the air.”
Baker recorded the first 100-yard effort of his career, posting 111 yards and two scores on 20 carries as USA collected 252 yards on the ground. His touchdown runs, which came from seven yards out and on a one-yard carry nearly seven minutes apart in the opening quarter, pushed a three-point Jaguar advantage to 19. “The offensive line did a great job blocking and we had some great calls out there on the field,” he commented. Means connected from 18 yards twice and hit a 45-yard attempt as well for a career-best three field goals, and C.J. Bennett added a nine-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter as the Jags scored all their points in the opening half.
The USA offense would finish with season-high totals of 252 yards rushing and 375 overall. Bennett completed 11-of-18 attempts for 101 yards, adding 20 on the ground, while Myles Gibbon posted 47 yards of total offense. Jeremé Jones had a 65-yard run and caught two passes, J.J. Keels ran for 23 yards in his first career start, and Bryant Lavender and Corey Waldon had a team-best three receptions each.
“We decided that we wanted to spread them out a little bit early this week,” explained Bennett. “We’ve been pounding the ball a lot and we saw some things we liked on film. We moved the ball well, and it always helps when you’re getting the turnovers that we had.”
Williams’ interception at the HSU-25 on the Reddies’ second possession would lead to a Means 18-yard field goal seven plays and three minutes later, putting USA up 3-0 with nine-and-a-half minutes left in the opening period. Another turnover would help the Jaguars push the lead to 10-0 42 seconds later. Crews forced a fumble that Loper recovered on the 23-yard line on HSU’s first play of its ensuing drive; Baker carried twice, scoring from seven yards out on the second rush.
Baker scored again with two minutes left in the quarter on fourth-and-goal from the one, capping a 10-play, 29-yard drive, to extend the advantage to 16-0. USA took over after Barefield, Giles and Harris stopped Jazz Scott for no gain on a fake punt attempt with the Reddies facing fourth-and-one, picking up first downs on a three-yard Kendall Houston carry as well as a rush for three yards from Keels.
“I thought it was the first quarter was the key,” stated Reddie head coach Scott Maxfield. “South Alabama came out and had the wind to their advantage. I think we played really poorly in the first quarter — we turned the ball over and gave them some opportunities to get the momentum, score some points and get ahead of us. I thought we never really recovered from that until the third quarter, we were reeling through the whole first half.
“South Alabama has a little bit better talent and a little more depth than we do, and they are a well-coached team. When you turn the ball on the road like that, it’s hard to dig out of that hole.”
Means converted another 18-yard field goal in the opening minutes of the second period, making the score 19-0. On the first snap of the possession — which began at the USA-27 — Jones took a handoff, reversed field behind the line and went 65 yards down the right sideline; it was the longest rush in school history, moving the Jaguars back into the red zone. The Jags picked up another first down on a defensive holding call, but Baker was stopped one yard shy of the goal line on third down.
After moving 37 yards down the field in the final six-and-a-half minutes of the first half, it appeared that the Jaguars added to the lead with a 36-yard field goal from Means — the Reddies were called for roughing the kicker, however, and after moving half the distance to the goal line Bennett scored from nine yards out on a quarterback draw, making the score 25-0. Means tacked on a career-best third field goal — this time hitting from 45 yards out — three seconds before the intermission, as USA moved 30 yards in seven plays and 54 seconds after taking over on downs.
The Reddies put together a 72-yard march on their first possession of the second half, but on second and goal at the USA-4 Taylor intercepted a pass at the one-yard line to keep HSU off the board. After Torres’ field goal, the Reddies would fail to cross midfield again.
Keaton Stigger led all players with 10 tackles — eight were unassisted — while also forcing a fumble and breaking up two passes. Benn Anderson was credited with eight stops and Andrew Cannon seven, and Robbie Aldridge collected a tackle and an assist behind the line of scrimmage.
Rodgers, who came on for the final HSU drive of the opening half after the Reddies had picked up only 48 yards to that point in the contest, finished 14-of-30 for 118 yards. Elliot Hebert led a group of four players with three catches with 35 receiving yards, and Kevin Nichols posted 32 yards on just five carries to pace the Reddie ground attack.
USA will continue a three-game homestand Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when Mississippi Valley State visits Mobile.
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—
USA-Henderson State game stats
USA-Henderson State photo gallery
