MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Isaiah Crowell rushed for a career-high four touchdowns to lead Alabama State to a 49-30 win over Alcorn State in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action. The win was the third straight for Alabama State after dropping their first two games of the season.
“This was a very big win for us,” Head Coach Reggie Barlow said. “Alcorn is a very good team and there is a reason they came in here undefeated in the SWAC. I was glad we came out focused early in the game and was able to score some early points to keep some pressure on them.”
The game was not as close as the final score indicated as ASU led 42-7 and 49-13 in the fourth. Alcorn State was able to score the final 17 points of the game to make the score a little closer.
After scoring three times in the first half, Crowell opened the scoring in the second half on ASU’s first offensive play. After Leland Baker recovered an Alcorn fumble on the first play of the second half, Crowell’s one yard run put ASU up 35-7. That would be the only score of the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter Daniel Duhart found Brandon Barnes from eight yards out to push ASU’s lead out to 42-7. ASU’s final score came on a Rodney Cross four yard run to push the lead out to 49-13.
On a night when ASU’s (3-2/3-1 SWAC) passing game was off mark, the rushing game finished the with 297 yards. ASU had over 300 yards rushing, but on their final offensive play a bad snap over the quarterback’s head dropped their rushing just under 300 yards. ASU has now rushed for over 200 yards in each game this season.
“Obviously to win the game you have to be able to rush the football,” Head Coach Reggie Barlow said. “We want to show we can run it. We felt like we could run the ball against them so we decided to establish the run and was hoping that it would open up the passing game for us.”
“We weren’t as accurate, we weren’t as precise as we could be in the passing game, but there are things we can work on.”
Crowell finished the game with 133 yards on 19 carries. Rodney Cross had a career-highs in carries (13) and yards (67). Malcolm Cyrus finished the game with 60 yards on nine carries.
Duhart was the victim of several dropped passes and finished the game completing eight of his 18 passes for 74 yards and one score. Arsenio Favor completed his only pass of the game for 19 yards.
Defensively Kourtney Berry once again led the Hornets with 13 total tackles (7 solo, 6 assists). He also had a sack and two tackles for loss. His fumble recovery and 30 yard return in the first quarter led to Crowell’s first touchdown.
Deandra Rashada finished with 10 tackles (6 solo, 4 assists). ASU’s defense had four sacks and 12 tackles for losses. They also forced four turnovers with three fumble recoveries and an interception by Najee Bright.
ASU’s defense held the vaulted running game of Alcorn (3-2/2-1 SWAC) to 114 yards, 50 yards less than their, per game average. They held Alcorn’s leading rusher, Arnold Walker, to only 60 yards on 14 carries.
“I really thought they would stay with it (running game) even though he (Walker) wasn’t picking up the yardage,” Barlow said. “There were times when he broke tackles and he ran the ball strong, but I guess with them being behind early on and going down by 21 or 28 they had to throw it to get back in it.”
The first half saw ASU’s rushing game at its best as they Hornets scored two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter and another two in the second quarter. ASU finished the first half rushing for 135 yards, but could only muster 37 passing yards on four of 12 passing.
Crowell scored twice in the opening quarter, the first following a Kourtney Berry fumble recovery and return to Alcorn’s four yard line. Crowell took the ball around right end for the score. His second score came from 25 yards out with 2:39 left in the first stanza.
Cyrus then scored on an 18 yard run with 12:08 left before halftime and Crowell finished the ASU scoring from four yards out with 2:21 left. Crowell finished the half with 99 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Alcorn State avoided the first half shutout as John Gibbs hit Jarvis Turner from 44 yards out with only 14 seconds left before the half to cut the lead to 28-7.
After consecutive home games, the Hornets will be back on the road next week when they travel to Houston, Texas to play Texas Southern at 6 p.m.
