By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
LORMAN, Miss. — All good things must come to an end, and on Saturday it was the Grambling State Tigers’ four-game win streak.
In a game not completely decided until the final play, Alcorn State held on for a 27-16 win over the Tigers inside Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.
Grambling fell to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s West Division while the Braves moved to 5-6 and 4-3.
The game was closer than the final score indicated thanks to Alcorn putting on a closing touchdown ending a desperate attempt by the Tigers to pull off a miracle game-winning score on that final snap.
Trailing 21-16 with possession way back at the GSU 2-yard line, Grambling quarterback Hayden Benoit hit Keith Jones, Jr. at the Grambling 16. Jones then lateraled to Covadis Knighten, Jr. back at the Grambling 5-yard line and as the G-Men to keep the ball alive with no time remaining, Alcorn State’s Eric Thomas, Jr. ended up with it and carried it two yards to the end zone.
Alcorn had built an 11-point lead at 14-3 midway through the second stanza after Grambling’s Theodore Caballero opened scoring with a 39-yard field goal with 5:39 left in the first quarter.
But the Braves moved on top 14-3 on a 6-yard touchdown with 6:29 remaining in the first and held that advantage at halftime.
It wasn’t until the third quarter that the Tigers made their move, beginning with a 29-yard Caballero three-pointer with 2:29 left in the period.
On the next play from scrimmage with the ball at the Alcorn 25, Grambling cut the lead to only one point as Braves quarterback Reggie Davis was strip-sacked out of the shotgun formation.
Grambling’s Terrell Raby scooped up the loose ball and returned it 18 yards to paydirt to cut the Braves’ lead to 14-13 at the 2:21 mark of the third quarter.
After Grambling forced an Alcorn turnover on downs on the following possession, the Tigers took over at their own 17-yard line to begin the fourth quarter.
From there the Tigers mounted a drive that culminated with Caballero putting them on top with a 27-yard field goal with 8:03 left on the clock.
Alcorn regained the lead on a 1-yard quarterback keeper with 4:50 remaining and then held off the Tigers for the Braves’ fourth straight win.
In his second start after beginning the season as Grambling’s fourth-string quarterback, Benoit connected on 16-of-33 passes for 142 yards with Jones leading the Tigers with four catches for 48 yards.
Andre Crews led GSU ballcarriers with 69 yards on 16 rushing attempts.
Defensively, the Tigers were led by Bryce Cage with nine tackles.
Grambling was missing 18 players, several who were starters or key backups, because they were suspended by the SWAC for their involvement in a mid-game brawl a week earlier at home in a victory over Bethune-Cookman.
Grambling closes out its season against Southern, which fell to 1-10 with a 35-30 loss to Texas Southern on Saturday. The Tigers and Jaguars play in New Orleans in the annual Bayou Classic Nov. 29.
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com