Bulldogs Punch Their Ticket to Birmingham
Alabama A&M clinched the SWAC Eastern Division's berth into the Farmers Insurance SWAC Football Championship Game presented by Toyota with a 17-15 victory at Prairie View A&M on Saturday. Arkansas-Pine Bluff stayed alive with a 42-6 victory over Texas Southern, and Jackson State closed its season with a 51-7 win in the Capital City Classic over Alcorn State.
AAMU will play either Grambling or UAPB in the December 10th championship game. If GSU defeats Southern in the Bayou Classic next Saturday, the Tigers win the Western Division outright. If the Jaguars defeat Grambling, they share a four-way tie for first with Grambling, Prairie View, and UAPB. UAPB would qualify for the title game by winning the tiebreaker by virtue of its 2-1 record vs. the other three schools tied and its head-to-head win over PV.
Alabama A&M 17, Prairie View A&M 15
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- G'Alonzo Milton caught two touchdowns from David Isabelle Saturday as Alabama A&M defeated Prarie View A&M 17-15 to secure a spot in the championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The Bulldogs (8-3) tied with Alabama State at 7-2 for first place in the SWAC East Division, but won the tiebreaker by virtue of their head-to-head victory. Jackson State, also 7-2, is not eligible for the postseason.
The loss, coupled with a win by Arkansas-Pine Bluff, eliminated Prairie View (5-6, 5-4) from title contention in the SWAC West Division.
Milton, who had three receptions for 100 yards, had scoring grabs of 68 and 10 yards in the third quarter as Alabama A&M took a 17-0 lead. Prarie View scored on a safety and added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but a two-point conversion pass after the final score with 3:47 remaining was incomplete.
Kaderius Lacey had 163 yards rushing for the Bulldogs.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 42, Texas Southern 6
PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- Stephen Jones ran for 92 yards and two scores, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff used a solid running game to beat Texas Southern 42-6 on Saturday in both teams' regular-season finale.
Benjamin Anderson completed just three passes for the Golden Lions (6-5, 5-4 Southwestern), but two of them were for touchdowns: a 27-yarder to Rontrell Bailey in the third quarter, and a 57-yarder to T.J. Shelton in the fourth.
Adrian Moore added scoring runs of 8 and 11 yards as Arkansas-Pine Bluff rolled up 262 yards rushing on 48 attempts.
Riko Smalls had 214 yards passing for the Tigers (4-7, 2-7) but was picked off twice, by James Harrell and Bill Ross. Smalls scored on a 1-yard run midway through the first quarter, but that was the extent of the scoring for Texas Southern.
Texas Southern's Joe Anderson led all players with 80 yards receiving.
Jackson State 51, Alcorn State 7
JACKSON, Miss. -- Casey Therriault threw for four touchdowns and 539 yards in a record-setting day and led Jackson State over Alcorn State 51-7 on Saturday.
Therriault became the Tigers single-season leader in passes completed (372), passing yards (3,808) and total offense (3,911) after going 32 for 44 against the Braves.
Jackson State (9-2, 7-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) jumped out to a 31-0 lead on Therriault's 87-yard touchdown pass to Rico Richardson with 3:29 left in the first half.
Arnold Walker broke up the Jackson State scoring streak on a 1-yard TD run for the Braves only touchdown.
Alcorn State managed just 89 yards passing, and Jackson State outgained the Braves 687-209 in total yards of offense. The Tigers scored all four times they were in the red zone, while Alcorn State was just 1 of 2 in red-zone chances.
Walker finished with 102 yards on 24 carries for the Braves (2-8, 1-8).
