By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
HOUSTON — In a football conference where parity seems to dominate, games often come down to plays in the fourth quarter.
Grambling State was reminded of exactly that Saturday night in a Southwestern Athletic Conference contest at Shell Energy Stadium.
After Grambling scored to tie the game with 9:37 remaining, a long scoring drive in the closing minutes provided the margin in a 24-17 loss to Texas Southern.
The Lincoln Parish Tigers fell to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the SWAC West, putting GSU two games behind division leaders Southern and Alcorn State, which both stand at 3-1. Alcorn State defeated GSU GSU 17-12 on Oct. 12 in Grambling.
Texas Southern moved to 3-4 and 2-2 after driving 75 yards in 10 plays for the decisive touchdown with 4:32 remaining and containing a still shaky Grambling offense.
Making matters especially frustrating, Grambling’s three SWAC West Division losses have come by a combined seven points.
Against Texas Southern, it didn’t help that GSU starting quarterback Myles Crawley was knocked out of the game with an early injury. After backup Ashton Frye struggled, Grambling coach Mickey Joseph turned to his third quarterback of the game, Deljay Bailey, who directed the GSU offense in the final three quarters.
Both defenses looked strong early. TSU took a 7-0 lead 38 seconds into the second stanza on a six-yard run by Jace Wilson while Grambling’s Reed Harradine hit a 32-yard field goal to cut Texas Southern’s advantage to 7-3 with 4:32 remaining before intermission.
But then came a dagger as TSU quarterback Jordan Davis hit Donald McKinney midstride for a 49-yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds left in the second quarter for a 14-3 lead at the half.
Grambling used a chunk play of its own to tighten things early in the third quarter. Running back Ke’Travion “Bull” Hargrove powered his way to paydirt from 31 yards out to cut the Texas Southern lead to 14-10 at 4:34 into the second half.
TSU extended its lead to 17-10 with 4:41 left in the third on a 46-yard by Gustavo Romero.
The G-Men weren’t done yet, as Bailey added a game-tying score on a four-yard quarterback keeper to knot things up at 17-17 with 9:37 left to play.
But Texas Southern countered right away with the game-winning, methodical march, culminating with a two-yard plunge to paydirt by Quintrell Quinn with 4:24 left on the clock.
Grambling failed to gain a first down on the ensuing possession, allowing Texas Southern to milk the clock and clinch the win.
The visitors were held to 256 yards of total offense while TSU chalked up 369.
Grambling gained 110 yards through the air, with Bailey leading the way with 70 yards on seven-of-12 passing.
Hargrove led the G-Men on the ground with 73 yards on 13 carries.
The Tigers continued to struggle with penalties, losing 107 yards on seven flagged plays.
Grambling will remain on the road next weekend at Bethune-Cookman (1-7, 1-3 in the SWAC East) in a game kicking off at 2 p.m. Saturday in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com