photo by Hannah Reel

Alcorn’s Tomasi Fuller gains yards after intercepting a pass before being taken down by the Bulldogs’ Thomas Harris during the game Saturday. The turnover was one of six forced by the Braves in Saturday’s 34-16 homecoming win.

Braves lead SWAC East standings after victory

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, October 18, 2009

LORMAN — If you run into an Alcorn State player, coach or fan today and notice that they are a little more giddy than usual, there’s a good reason for that.

After three Southwestern Athletic Conference games, the Braves find themselves alone in first place in the East Division and control their own destiny in reaching the SWAC championship game.

Alcorn’s State’s 34-16 homecoming victory over Alabama A&M coupled with Jackson State’s 19-17 loss to Texas Southern puts the Braves in first place by themselves with a 2-1 conference record.

But Alcorn coach Earnest Collins knows there’s four conference games remaining and won’t let his team revel in their accomplishments just yet.

“We’re taking it one day at a time, one practice at a time,” Collins said after Saturday’s victory. “We’ll come to work tomorrow. When they’re out there running sprints at 6:15 Tuesday morning, they’ll know to move forward and look ahead to the next game.”

But if the Braves defense wanted to bask in the glow of a homecoming victory just a little bit, they deserve it after holding Alabama A&M to just 198 total yards in the victory and forcing six turnovers.

One week after tying a Football Championship Subdivision record with 14 sacks against Mississippi Valley State, the Braves defense intercepted three passes and recovered three fumbles, returning one of them for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

“We work long and hard during the week on tackling and stripping the ball,” Alcorn defensive lineman Brandon Morris said. “It makes it easy for us on Saturday.”

While the Alcorn defense was the star of the game, it was the Braves offense that struck early.

Quarterback Tim Buckley threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Lewis early in the first quarter and then followed that up with a seven yard TD pass to Anton DeJarnett early in the second quarter to put the Braves up 14-0.

Alabama A&M would get a touchdown back before halftime thanks to a partially blocked punt.

After taking over at the Alcorn 26-yard line, it took the Bulldogs just four plays to score when Deaunte Mason threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Mitchell late in the second quarter.

After Alcorn’s second touchdown in the first minute of the second quarter, the Braves offense was stagnant much of the next two quarters, but the Bulldogs couldn’t take advantage thanks to the stingy Braves defense.

After a 9-yard punt gave the Bulldogs the ball at the Alcorn 21-yard line, it looked like A&M was in prime position to tie the score midway through the third quarter.

However, the Braves defense stiffened and forced a 27-yard field goal from Jeremy Licea that made the score 14-10.

Collins said the defense’s attitude is to not allow points no matter where the other team is on the field.

“After the Southern game, (defensive coordinator) Zach Shay came up to me and said ‘Whether they have 80 yards to go for a touchdown or just 20, it shouldn’t matter.’ That’s been their attitude since then. I think they thrive off of the challenge (of a short field).”

Alcorn’s defense then made the decisive play of the game midway through the fourth quarter when Tomasi Fuller intercepted a pass and returned it to the 22-yard line.

The Braves offense finally got back in gear on the ensuing drive. Three plays is all it took for Alcorn to go up 21-10, with Arnold Walker diving in from five yards out for the score with 8:51 remaining.

A 48-yard kickoff return by Thomas Harris gave A&M the ball at the Alcorn 31-yard line, and the Bulldogs cashed it in when Mason scored on a quarterback draw to pull his team to within five points with 5:03 remaining.

However, a spectacular play by Walker would put the game out of reach for good.

With the Braves trying to run out the clock and the ball on their own 38-yard line, Walker took a handoff and disappeared into a pile of bodies at the line of scrimmage.

The play appeared over, but no whistles blew and Walker broke free of the mass of bodies and sprinted 62 yards into the end zone for the score that sealed the win.

The Alcorn defense piled on another touchdown 13 seconds later as Roderick Williams forced a fumble with a hard hit and Carl Harris scooped it up and rumbled 16 yards for the final score of the game.

Next week the Braves travel to face Alabama State, which sits at 0-3 in the SWAC after a 23-12 loss to Grambling on Saturday.

Morris said the team is brimming with confidence after two consecutive conference wins, and plans on carrying that confidence through the remainder of the season.

“This is huge for us,” Morris said. “This is the first time we’ve done this in a long time. We’ve got the attitude that we can’t be stopped, especially at home. The Spinks Jinx is back.”