MOBILE, Ala. – Kendall Houston rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns Thursday, all in the second half, to lead the University of South Alabama to a season-opening 20-10 football victory over West Alabama at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Ellis Hill chipped in with 40 yards in his first career start and Demetre Baker added 39 as the Jaguars began their two-year transition to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision with a win over the program’s third straight Gulf South Conference opponent.
“Not having Kendall and Demetre the first half didn’t help, but they are great running backs,” said USA head coach Joey Jones. “Those two guys are probably the core of our offense running the football. We’re a very good football team with those two guys running it.”
UWA opened the second half by picking up 37 yards on its kickoff return after Wes Mounger handed off to Gerald Worsham. But Anton Graphenreed stopped Don Smith shy of a first down to force a three-and-out. Houston and Baker combined to rush for 43 yards in their first appearance of the contest when the Jags took over, and after C.J. Bennett found Bryant Lavender for a 20-yard completion down to the UWA-2, Houston gave USA a 13-7 advantage on the next play with just under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.
He sealed the win midway through the fourth quarter after UWA had cut its deficit in half on a 22-yard Ryne Smith, scoring from 10 yards out at the 8:13 mark. On that possession, which covered 66 yards in seven plays, began with a 23-yard rush from Houston. Baker collected 11 yards on the next snap, and two plays later — with the Jags facing third-and-seven — Bennett hooked up with Corey Waldon for an eight-yard completion to move USA just outside the red zone. Houston ran for 11 yards and a first down before reaching the end zone for the final score of the game.
The Jags collected 205 of their 356 yards of total offense on the ground, overcoming four first-half turnovers by limiting the Tigers to just 268 yards overall in earning the program’s 18th win in a row.
Enrique Williams and B.J. Scott both posted a double-digit tackle total with 11 and 10 stops, respectively, with Charles Harris and Jake Johnson adding nine apiece. Ken Barefield finished with seven tackles, and he also intercepted a pass at the Jaguar 13-yard line with UWA driving late in the second quarter. Barefield, Johnson, Williams and Alex Page were all credited with two stops for loss, and Harris helped preserve the victory with an interception in the end zone in the final five minutes.
“Normally, the first game everything happens like we planned it; we don’t get the kinks out until the third or fourth week,” Barefield stated. “This game helped us out a lot. We had a bunch of mistakes, but we still pulled it out. That’s what we needed in the first game because we’ve got two good ball games coming up in the next two weeks.”
Gary Johnston threw for 101 yards and rushed for 72 more to pace the Tiger attack, connecting on 10-of-17 attempts in the second half after all five of his passes before the break fell incomplete. He also accounted for UWA’s lone touchdown with a minute to go in the opening quarter, scoring from three yards out one snap after T-Ray Mitchell 31-yard carry. And it was his 14-yard gain to move the chains on third-and-12 that helped keep alive the five-play, 46-yard drive.
Worsham led all players with five receptions for 44 yards, and Ken May recorded 48 yards on three catches for the Tigers. Mitchell finished with 40 yards on the ground, Smith had 39 and Matthew Willis 30.
Lavender and Waldon each caught three passes for the Jaguars, with the former collecting a game-high 55 yards in the process, while Jeremé Jones also had multiple receptions after grabbing two balls for 27 yards. Bennett was 12-of-21 passing for 151 yards. “Turnovers are going to happen and you want to cut down on them, but luckily our defense picked it up,” Bennett said. “The second half we were turnover-free and we got two touchdowns. If we would’ve done that in the first quarter it would’ve been a lot different, but a win is a win.”
The Jaguars received the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in nine plays and four-and-a-half minutes to take an early 7-0 lead. Bennett completed 4-of-5 passes for 56 yards on the possession before putting the first points of the season on the board on an 18-yard quarterback draw. The Tigers began their second possession from the USA 28-yard line after Justin Hawkins deflected then intercepted a pass, but a bad snap and a Barefield sack resulted in a loss of 26 yards and forced a punt.
Gabe Poe led all players with 12 stops, twice as many as any other UWA player recorded. Otha Foster picked off two passes to go along with six tackles, with Brandon Walker collecting six stops too.
“Obviously it wasn’t a great ball game; we didn’t play extremely well though I thought West Alabama played really hard,” Jones observed. “When you have four turnovers in the first half, it’s not a good thing — we have to learn to protect the football. We had some penalties and untimely things happen, so we have to go back to work and see how we can get better.
“But I think that was a great second half. We pounded the ball at them and ran it really well, we got Kendall and Demetre in there and controlled the ball,” he continued. “I thought we played better in the second half, but we have to play four quarters to beat good teams and we just didn’t do that tonight; we didn’t play extremely well the whole game.”
“I thought they wore us down a little bit. It’s a credit to them and their defense as well,” stated Will Hall, who was making his head coaching debut for the Tigers. “We came out offensively in the second half and went three-and-out, and USA got it and went down and scored. There were some good adjustments by USA at halftime.
“We spilled our guts out on the field. I expected our kids to do that, but I’m so proud of how they did. Credit to coach Jones and coach [Bill] Clarkl; they do a great job and have a great thing going here at South Alabama. I think these are the two most up-and-coming programs in the state of Alabama. I can’t say enough though about what they do at South Alabama and I can’t say enough about our kids’ effort tonight. I really think we have a chance to have a good D-II football team.”
USA will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 10, when the Jaguars play host to Lamar at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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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