By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
GRAMBLING — A win to snap a two-game losing skid is a sweet thing for a football team.
Winning on Homecoming makes it even sweeter.
And that’s what made Grambling State’s 31-21 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday afternoon at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium a little more satisfying than most victories.
The win moved GSU to 4-3 overall and more importantly, 1-2 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s West Division. GSU started its divisional season with a pair of two-point losses — 36-34 in five overtimes against Prairie View A&M before falling 17-15 last weekend to Alcorn State.
“It’s a win,” Joseph said of the victory over UAPB. “We’ve got to get more. You can’t stay around here if you get just one SWAC win. Trust me, I know.
“But it’s a good win. Any win is a good win. It wasn’t clean, but it was a conference win, and that makes it a good thing.”
Grambling struck first on the scoreboard after Marquis Harris blocked a UAPB punt to set the Tigers up at the Golden Lions’ 21-yard line. Tre Bradord’s 7-yard touchdown run put the Tigers on top 7-0 exactly six minutes into the contest.
After the Golden Lions tied it up, Reed Harradine’s 48-yard field at the 10:29 mark of the second quarter provided a 10-7 edge the Tigers took into halftime.
The Tigers’ pushed out to 17-7 with 8:41 left in the third quarter as Ruston High School product Ke’Travion “Bull” Hargrove reached paydirt on a 15-yard scoring scamper, but the Golden Lions tightened things up with 3:39 remaining in that stanza to shrink the GSU advantage to 17-14.
Marquis Harris sparkled on a 71-yard scoring reception from Crawley that extended the GSU lead to 24-14 with 2:05 left in the third period.
“He’s come a long way,” Joseph said about Harris. “Marquis hasn’t played a whole bunch of football. He only played two years in high school and was a quarterback. He’s come a long way. He’s a big play guy.
“I think he’ll continue to get even better, but we like where Marquis is at right now.”
Crawley admitted his connection with Harris, a 6-5, 249-pound redshirt freshman, is getting stronger.
“He’s grown a lot, especially since last year,” Crawley said. “He’s starting to understand the game a lot more. He came up big for us. This season he’s been coming up pretty big for us, so I’m proud of him.”
But after Harris’ TD catch, the Golden Lions again cut the GSU lead to 24-21 with 14:05 remaining in the contest.
UAPB had one last chance to earn what could have been its first lead of the game with 3:18, but had to start that possession 99 yards away from the end zone. After GSU forced a turnover on downs for the Golden Lions with 1:46 left on the clock, GSU scored on the next play as graduate transfer running back Dedrick Talbert scored on a nine-yard run.
Andrew Jones once again led the G-Men with 12 tackles, with half a sack, while David Jones added nine tackles to go along with his interception.
Next up for Grambling will be a SWAC West road game at Texas Southern (2-4, 1-2) at 6 p.m. next Saturday.
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com