Grambling State quarterback Anthony Carrothers is only a freshman, but he played like a seasoned veteran Saturday in his first Bayou Classic.
Carrothers completed 13 of 17 passes for 167 yards a touchdown to lead the G-Men to a 38-17 victory against SWAC rival Southern at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
It was the third straight victory for Grambling in their annual season finale against their in-state rivals. It improved their record to 9-2 overall and 8-1 in the SWAC and took some of the sting out not winning the SWAC West Division title for the second straight season.
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“It’s a very good season,” Coach Rod Broadway said. “Most teams in the country would love to be 9-2. We had our standards a little bit higher than that. We wanted to win all of them and play in the championship game. But we’re one game short. But we’re excited that we’re 9-2, and hopefully we will be able to compete for a championship next year.”
Southern ends the season 2-9 and suffered the first nine-loss season in school history. The Jaguars finished last in the SWAC West Division with a 1-8 conference record in Stump Mitchell’s first year as coach. Mitchell had said before the season began that he thought the Jaguars could go 12-0 and win the SWAC championship.
“We had some early opportunities, but we couldn’t capitalize on them,” Mitchell said. “So it is what it is. … Shoulda, woulda. coulda. It doesn’t matter. They won. So now we’ve got to look forward to next year.”
Grambling senior running back Frank Warren rushed for a game-high 106 yards and passed former Jackson State star Lewis Tillman on the SWAC’s all-time rushing list with 3,910 yards. Warren, who also scored three touchdowns, ended the season with ,537 yards.
Southern took an early 3-0 lead, capitalizing on a turnover by the G-Men. Grambling forced Southern to go three-and-out on the Jaguars’ first possession, but Grambling return man Kiare Thompson fumbled the punt at his 12-yard line. The G-Men held Southern to just two yards on three plays, and the Jaguars had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by William Griswold.
Grambling proceeded to score 24 straight points and put the game out of reach. Warren gave Grambling a 7-3 when he scored on a one-yard run with 4:24 left in the first quarter. Thompson redeemed himself for the earlier fumble with a 32-yard punt return that set up Warren’s touchdown. Thompson also caught three passes for 72 yards.
Zoltan Riazzo booted a 27-yard field to open the second-quarter scoring, and Warren added another one-yard touchdown run for a 17-3 Grambling lead. Defensive tackle Jomarcus Savage stepped in front of a screen pass by Southern quarterback Jeremiah McGinty rumbled 17 yards for a touchdown with the interception for Grambling’s final points of the quarter.
Southern answered Savage touchdown with a score of its own after Richard Wilson returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Jaguars’ 47. Running back Sylvester Nzweke ended the eight-play, 53-yard drive with a one-yard scoring run with 13 seconds left in the half.
Jaguars starting quarterback Jeremiah McGinty kept the drive alive when he scrambled for 30 yards and first down on a fourth-and-four play from Grambing’s 47-yard line. However, McGinty suffered shoulder injury on the play and didn’t return to the game.
Freshman Dray Joseph, who has alternated with McGinty the entire season, played the rest of the way. He completed 11 of 16 passes for 148 yards with one interception, but the Jaguars were unable to sustain any offensive momentum.
Grambling had huge advantage in time of possession. The G-Men held on to the ball for more than 35 minutes compared to 24 minutes for Southern.
If Southern had any hopes of pulling off a comeback died at the start of the third quarter. Grambling scored on a five-play, 64-yard drive on its first position for a 31-10 lead. Warren got the touchdown on a 16-yard run.
Grambling went on to hold the ball for more than 10 minutes in the quarter. Southern had the ball for only one possession in the quarter and ran just nine plays. The Jaguars gave the ball up when Bruna Nelson intercepted Joseph at Grambling’s nine-yard line with 7:28 left in the period. The Jaguars didn’t get the ball back until 12:24 remained in the game. By that time, Grambling had increased its lead to 38-10 courtesy of a two-yard touchdown pass from Carrothers to Larry Donnell that ended a 16-play, 91-yard drive.
Gary Hollimon scored on a one-yard run with 1:12 left in the game for Jaguars’ final score. The game ended on an ugly note. A shoving match erupted on the field during the customary postgame exchange of handshakes between opposing players and coaches. No punches were thrown and order was quickly restored.
