Southern stuns Alabama A&M behind quarterback Dray Joseph

BATON ROUGE - Southern used a stingy defense and explosive passing attack to stun Alabama A&M 21-6^[1] in the Jaguars' home opener Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Dray Joseph completed 18 of 27 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns, including two first-quarter scoring strikes of 50-plus yards that staked the Jaguars (1-1, 1-0 SWAC) to an early cushion.

"I think this week I came out and played with my instincts, where last week (in a 33-7 loss to Tennessee State) I played more like a robot," Joseph said.

On the first play from scrimmage, Joseph passed to senior wide receiver LaQuinton Evans on a slant route, and Evans shook off two Bulldogs tacklers before racing down the left sideline for a 72-yard touchdown.

"For me, that's just a big confidence-builder," said Joseph, a former West St. John standout. "Once I saw LaQuinton running down the field, I knew I was going to have a good game."

After a missed Alabama A&M field goal, Joseph connected with sophomore wideout Charles Hawkins on his second pass down the right sideline for a 57-yard touchdown that gave the Jaguars a 14-0 lead.

Bulldogs junior quarterback Deaunte Mason was effectively bottled up by the swarming Southern defense.

It took Mason 20 completions on 44 attempts to amass 280 yards passing. The Jaguars also sacked Mason three times, and consistently forced him to scramble.

"The way our (defensive) line corralled (Mason), who can run the ball pretty well, tonight was a little bit surprising," said sophomore defensive back Virgil Williams, who had eight tackles. "It seemed like every time he dropped back, he had to pump-fake or pull away to avoid our rush."

Alabama A&M (0-2, 0-1 SWAC) had a nine-play, 63-yard drive in the second quarter, but settled for a field goal that cut the lead to 14-3.

Joseph then directed a four-play drive that ended with a 21-yard scoring pass to junior wide receiver Mike Berry, the first touchdown reception of his career, for a 21-3 lead two minutes before halftime. Berry finished with six catches for 75 yards, and Evans caught four passes for 102 yards.

The win was just the third of Southern Coach Stump Mitchell's 13-game tenure at Southern, and matched the Jaguars' 2010 conference win total.

"We haven't lost a conference game this year. We can't go to the SWAC championship with this win," said Mitchell. "But we're going to play every team that could end up there. It's in our hands still."

Mitchell said he challenged his team to eliminate the mental mistakes that led to 12 penalties and three turnovers in Southern's opening week loss. The Jaguars cut the penalties in half against the Bulldogs, and backup quarterback J.P. Douglas' fourth-quarter interception was the team's only turnover.

"Those mistakes were behind us," Mitchell said. "The players came out and practiced extremely hard, so we knew there was an opportunity to be better."

Southern limited a physical Alabama A&M rushing attack to 60 yards on 34 carries, only a week after being bowled over by a Tennessee State running game that accounted for 332 yards and more than 7 yards per carry.

"I think we helped (Tennessee State) out a lot last week with our offense and turnovers," Mitchell said. "Getting the early touchdown tonight and, even though we didn't control the game completely, putting our defense out there in a good position and letting them work made things easier for them."

References

1. ^{^} 21-6 (stats.nola.com)