Alcorn State’s win over North Carolina A&T wasn’t easy. For most of the game, the Braves trailed before a fourth-quarter comeback gave them the win.

But the Braves had several things going for them. First, the Aggies let Alcorn stay in the game with their failure to score touchdowns early in the game. Alcorn’s defense held NC A&T out of the end zone for most of the game, allowing only one touchdown, and that in the fourth quarter.

Braves’ head coach Johnny Thomas credited much of his team’s late-game success to its conditioning. In fall practice, Thomas made getting his players in top shape a priority, he said.

&uot;We ran them and ran them,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;And the conditioning really paid off tonight.&uot;

Thomas said that he had been worried about a letdown after the opening week victory over Grambling, so he took measures to try to keep his team focused.

&uot;We didn’t want any problems coming off the Grambling game, so we worked harder, we increased the workload, we increased the discipline, we tried to force them to focus on this week,&uot; Thomas said.

That focus wasn’t in evidence for the first three quarters of the game, when the Braves managed just three points. But in the fourth quarter, a different Alcorn team emerged. The Braves scored 13 points in the final period as the offense suddenly emerged from its exile, moving the ball with relative ease against the Aggies.

That change may have been due to the conditioning Thomas spoke of. The Alcorn offensive line suddenly started pushing around the defense, opening running holes for Brace’s running back Robert Lester, who scored the winning touchdown with just 36 seconds remaining in the game.

&uot;I thought the change really came at halftime. We have playmakers on both sides of the ball, we just had to make plays,&uot; Lester said. &uot;As a team we started working hard from two-a-days. We know the game isn’t over until four quarters have been played.&uot;

The work ethic that helped the Braves get in top shape for this season starts at the top, with the Alcorn State coaches. When asked how he would be celebrating the Braves’ second consecutive win, defensive coordinator LaTraia Jones’ answer was simple: going back to work.

&uot;What am I doing tonight? I’m going back to work here in a few minutes,&uot; Jones said. &uot;I’m going to go and start breaking down film so it’ll all be done when we come back in tomorrow.&uot;

This week, the Braves will travel to Maryland to face Howard at 3 p.m. Saturday. But at least one member of the team said he didn’t expect anything different this week in practice, even if the Braves’ are 2-0 on the season.

&uot;There won’t be anything different (in practice this week),&uot; Lester said. &uot;If anything, we may just run even more after today.&uot;