Grambling State Tiger’s came out this past weekend looking for a win with a 2-5 record, after a disappointing loss last week to Texas Southern, still holding on to a small grain of hope of a second SWAC Championship.
It was Alabama State that got on the board first in the contest with three seconds left in the first quarter, on a fumble recovery by Leland Jackson for a 19-yard TD. This was the first of many error made by the G-Men.
The Tigers came out on fire in the second quarter when Larry Kerlegan threw a 39-yard strike to receiver Clyde Edwards to put the Tiger’s up 9-2.
The second quarter was by far the most exciting quarter of the game with three lead changes in the quarter.
Two possessions later with one second left on the clock the Hornets Alex Engram scored on a 14-yard rush, which was setup by the Hornets running back Jay Peck who rushed for 46 yards on the drive. The PAT was good giving the Hornets a 13-9 lead, but the G-Men refused to go in the half without the lead.
With one second left on the clock, GSU’s Nick Lewis caught a tipped 42 yard pass from quarterback Brandon Landers. The PAT was good and putting Tigers up 16-13 at the half.
The second half was all Alabama State from beginning to end. Bad call after bad call from the GSU coaching staff did little to help the chances of the Tigers winning, by going for a first down on 4th down from their own 10-yard line with 20 yards to go for a first down.
A failed punt attempt by the Tigers that was recovered by ASU’s Justin Wright for a touchdown giving the Hornets a 19-16 lead.
A fumble on the 2-yard line recovered by the Hornets set the offense up for another score to make it 25-16 with 6:54 left in the 3rd quarter. After an interception thrown by Kerlegan, ASU sealed the Tigers fate with a final score by Rahmond Taylor with 3:34 left in the game.
For the game, GSU posted a season-low 207 yards of total offense to Alabama State’s 225 yards. Peck led the Hornets on offense with 97 yards on 24 carries while GSU’s Brandon Landers threw for 104 yards on 11-of-27 passing.
Grambling State came into the 2006 season having lost only six games in the two previous seasons.
One week into November, the Tigers has already matched that loss total.
Grambling is 3-6 with two weeks off before playing Southern on Nov. 25 in the Bayou Classic in New Orleans. The Tigers are 3-4 and out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship race.