ITTA BENA, Miss. — It was only a matter of time.
Southern’s Ckelby Givens was close multiple times but couldn’t get his hands on the quarterback. That moment finally arrived for the 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end in the fourth quarter.
The reigning Co-SWAC Defensive Player of the Year finally picked up his first two sacks of the season in the fourth quarter against Mississippi Valley State, a Southwestern Athletic Conference foe.
Just like Givens found his footing in the fourth quarter, the rest of his Southern teammates followed suit in the last 15 minutes to beat MVSU 34-29 at Rice-Totten Stadium on Saturday.
“First and foremost, glad to have the win,” Southern coach Terrence Graves said. “Really not overly ecstatic about the way we played. I think we’ve got to learn how to finish. We got to learn how to finish ball games and put teams away, because we made that game a lot tougher than it should have been.”
From the onset, Southern’s performance was littered with potentially big plays that didn’t happen. MVSU opened the game with a reverse play from Brandon Nunez, who lined up as a wide receiver and threw from the backfield. The 20-yard pass to the right sideline was tracked by graduate safety Horacio Johnson, who tried to reel in the interception but couldn’t hold on.
A few players later, MVSU’s junior quarterback Josh Brown threw the ball down the middle to Shade Schaefer in double coverage. The pass was behind him and went directly to Johnson, who dropped what could have been his second interception.
On fourth and 19 of the same drive, the Delta Devils appeared set to punt the ball from their own 21-yard line, but instead ran a trick play. The punter was swarmed, running for no gain.
Starting quarterback Jalen Woods, who was later injured, was unable to lead the Jaguars into the end zone with the advantageous field position. Southern settled for a 24-yard field goal, taking a 3-0 lead with 1:25 remaining in the first quarter.
Southern’s next score came early in the second quarter after Woods, a sophomore, was hit in the helmet and lay on the ground for several minutes. The hit came as he was sliding in traffic during a quarterback keeper.
Woods, who only played the final 6:12 in the season opener against North Carolina Central, was carted off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital. He did give a thumbs-up while he was on the stretcher.
“That’s a tough situation,” Graves said. “Any time you have those types of situations on the field, you’ve got to really get those guys back in and really push them … staying to the task at hand.”
The Jaguars replaced Woods with Cam’Ron McCoy with 12:46 remaining in the first half. With Southern on Valley’s 31, freshman running back Jason Gabriel entered the game and on his first touch, rushed for 22 yards. McCoy finished the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run to give the Jaguars a 10-3 lead with 11:22 left.
Mississippi Valley answered with a 47-yard field goal to start a rally for the Delta Devils. Two short drives later, the home team found the end zone for the first time. Quarterback Josh Brown passed to Caleb Brownlow on a crossing route to the right. Brownlow evaded the reach of Southern linebacker Vincent Paige and then twisted back to the left for a 46-yard touchdown catch.
Mississippi Valley led 13-10 with 2:34 left in the first half.
McCoy, a Jackson State transfer, was undeterred as he threw his best pass to date for Southern. After a pair of drops earlier in the drive, including one to tight end Jermaine Minor that would’ve been for a touchdown, McCoy flicked a 35-yard touchdown pass to outside wideout Darren Morris on first down to give Southern a 17-13 lead at halftime.
Southern’s top running backs struggled to take care of the ball to begin the second half. Trey Holly fumbled on the MVSU 31, and it was returned to Jaguars 1, resulting in a field goal. On the ensuing drive, Southern running back Mike Franklin fumbled the ball. MVSU took it 38 yards to the end zone, giving the Delta Devils a 24-22 lead.
“We had a few lapses,” Graves said. “We turned the ball over too many times. And I said it before, you can’t turn the ball over against a good football team, (and) expect to win. And then it’s a dogfight when you’re playing against teams … that you should beat.”
The Jaguars found their way in the final period as they scored 10 points thanks to a 32-yard field goal by freshman Nathan Zimmer and a 25-yard rushing touchdown by Barry Remo for the final Southern score with 8:35 left.Â
The defense allowed one last passing touchdown on a fade route to MVSU with 1:45 left in the game. However, after a failed onside kick, Southern kept the ball on the ground and got enough first downs until the clock ticked to zero.
Ashton Strother entered the game at quarterback for Southern on the last drive. Graves said that McCoy got “banged up” but wasn’t sure to what extent.Â
