Brandon Ross rushed for 138 yards on 13 carries and scored a season-best three touchdowns Saturday as South Alabama defeated Louisburg College 41-7, keeping the Jaguars undefeated in their inaugural football season.
South Alabama outgained the Hurricanes 474 yards to 222 and rushed for 310 yards on a windy, chilly afternoon.
Slow Start, Then a Big Second Quarter
Neither offense found much rhythm early. The teams traded possessions, and both struggled punting in the wind. After South Alabama forced a three-and-out, Ross broke loose for a 60-yard run before being stopped at the Louisburg 5. Anthony Mostella scored up the middle on the next play to give the Jaguars a 7-0 lead.
Ross’ run was the lone big play of the first quarter, as the teams combined for fewer than 100 yards of offense and seven punts.
The second quarter belonged to South Alabama, which outgained Louisburg 173 yards to 46 in the period. With 7:50 left in the half, the Jaguars covered 50 yards in five plays, capped by a 10-yard touchdown run by Ross for a 14-0 lead.
Ross scored again with 4:26 remaining before halftime on a 2-yard run, finishing a four-play, 60-yard drive that took 1:21, to make it 21-0.
Quarterback Myles Gibbon then led a seven-play, 77-yard drive that took 1:49 off the clock. Gibbon found Kevin Helms open in the left corner of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown. Michel Chapuseaux’s extra point attempt missed, leaving South Alabama ahead 27-0 with 53 seconds left in the half.
Quick Strike to Open Second Half
A strong kickoff return set up South Alabama at the Louisburg 34 to start the third quarter, and the Jaguars needed just 43 seconds to score. Ross capped the three-play drive with a 20-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game, and Chapuseaux’s kick made it 34-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Louisburg returner bobbled the ball, retreated and was tackled at the 1-yard line. The Hurricanes then put together their longest drive of the day, 11 plays for 33 yards over 6:52, before punting.
Starting at its own 20, South Alabama drove 80 yards in nine plays. Santuan McGee finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, putting the Jaguars ahead 41-0 with 3:13 left in the third quarter.
Louisburg Avoids the Shutout
Louisburg answered with a seven-play, 60-yard drive that took 3:03. A 30-yard pass play to the South Alabama 1 set up the touchdown, the Hurricanes’ only trip into the red zone all day, and accounted for the final margin.
South Alabama’s next two possessions ended in fumbles before the Jaguars ran out the clock on their final drive.
By the Numbers
- Total offense: South Alabama 474 yards (310 rushing, 164 passing); Louisburg 222 yards (52 rushing, 170 passing).
- First downs: South Alabama 22, Louisburg 12.
- Rushing: 10 Jaguars carried the ball. Ross had 13 carries for 138 yards, Ralph Turner 2 for 49 and Santuan McGee 6 for 41.
- Passing: Gibbon was 6-of-9 for 89 yards and a touchdown, Brennan Sim was 6-of-7 for 70 yards, and Nick Owens completed his only attempt for 5 yards.
- Receiving: Nine players combined for 13 catches. Courtney Smith had 2 for 25 yards, Drew Ezell 2 for 23, Kevin Helms 2 for 15 and a touchdown, and Corey Besteda 2 for 13.
- Defense: Josh Chestang, Anton Graphenreed and Justin Dunn each made five tackles.
Ross and Jones on the Ground Game
“I always practice keeping my feet moving. I’m still trying to get better at it,” Ross said. “I do not want to get tackled by one person. If I’m going to get tackled, I’d rather get tackled by a group of defenders.”
Head coach Joey Jones said the staff has challenged Ross to run with that physicality on every carry.
“We challenged him to run like that every play. He’s starting to understand that he’s got a 230-pound body that’s hard to tackle,” Jones said. “When you lower your shoulders and a free safety is coming up to tackle a guy like that, that’s a tough thing to tackle. When he learns to run like that all the time, he’s got a chance to be a great one. He’s got a chance to be a very special running back and probably play beyond college.”
Gibbon credited the depth of the running back group. “Brandon is a great running back; everyone has seen that,” Gibbon said. “Even when he gets tired and we take him out, we have another three running backs that can get in the game and get the ball rolling. Having good running backs makes our lives a lot easier.”
Preparation Emphasized
“I thought we came out and played fairly well. The biggest thing we’re challenging our kids with is no matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to play with character,” Jones said. “We’ve got to practice with character, we’ve got to work hard to study our opponents film, and we’ve got to not change anything about the way we prepare for a game. That was our challenge this week. I thought the kids did that, they were prepared.”
Louisburg head coach John Sala praised the Jaguars after the game.
“We came into this game with the mind-set to win it. We had a great chance and thought we could do a really good job,” Sala said. “Give a lot of credit to South Alabama. When they are that sound fundamentally and you have those types of players, that is a hard combination to beat. We go against better players all the time, but none that are that well-coached. That combination is just hard to beat at any level.”
Up Next
South Alabama has an open date next Saturday before hosting Fork Union Military Academy on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
