By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
GRAMBLING —A strong practice week sparked Grambling State to a decisive 41-20 Southwestern Athletic Conference-opening win over Jackson State Saturday night before a crowd of 19,085 at Eddie G. Robinson Stadium.
It was GSU’s third straight win under new coach Mickey Joseph, whose Tigers rose to 3-1. The performance against the rival red-and-blue Tigers wasn’t a surprise to Joseph.
“I knew we had a good week in practice,” Joseph said. “And I knew we battled (last week in an overtime 35-28 win) at Texas A&M-Commerce. We played 60 minutes then and we needed them to play 60 minutes again.
“We knew it was a really good Jackson State team. We had film on what they did against (ULM), what they did against Lane and what they did against Southern, so our antennas were up for them. We knew that coming into The Hole (Robinson Stadium) that we had to defend our home turf. I take my hat off to my coaches, my players, my staff — everybody was pulling on the same side of the rope.”
Grambling middle linebacker Andrew Jones was one of the anchors for GSU’s defense, leading the G-Men with 11 tackles and a sack.
“It was the way we prepared,” Jones said. “I feel like this was our biggest game of the year. This was going to be our biggest competition. They have a very good team. They play well, they’re coached well, they play very smart.
“So on our end it was just about focusing on the small keys to help us get in position to make plays.”
Former Ruston High School standout Ke’Travion “Bull” Hargrove lived up to his nickname as the senior transfer tailback powered his way more than 100 total yards and two scores.
Grambling came out of the gates swinging, marching 77 yards to paydirt on eight plays with Hargrove breaking loose on a 36-yard run while adding a 20-yard reception before bulling his way seven yards putting the hometown Tigers on top 7-0 only 2:59 into the contest.
GSU pushed the lead to 14-0 on its second possession, driving 49 yards on nine plays with quarterback Myles Crawley hitting JR Waters on a 22-yard scoring strike.
Jackson State battled back in the second quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns but missing their second extra point kick attempt to leave Grambling on top 14-13 with 2:20 left in the half.
But Grambling stretched its lead to 21-13 just 57 seconds before intermission as Caleb Lee Collins ran back a 22-yard pick six for the score.
Jackson State drew to 21-20 at the 3:23 mark of the third quarter when Ja’Nylon Dupree connected with Jacobian Martin on a 66-yard pass, but the G-Men answered with a fumble recovery in the end zone with 42 seconds left in the stanza to push their lead to 28-20.
Braden Barley added his third interception of the season on the final play of the third quarter, returning it 25 yards to set up Hargrove’s second touchdown as “Bull” muscled his way through the line from the 1 for a 35-21 advantage.
“I give my coaches credit for everything,” Barley said. “Everything (Jackson State) runs we saw throughout the week. I give it all to my coaches.”
After missing wide ride on a 35-yard field goal attempt midway through the fourth, Grambling’s Reed Harradine made good on attempts of 29 and 32 yards to cap the scoring.
Grambling plays next Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas against Prairie View A&M, which lost 31-24 in overtime at home against Southern on Saturday to fall to 1-4.
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com