Southern rallies to defeat Jackson State 28-24 in SWAC

JACKSON, Miss. -- As a tackler latched onto his left ankle, Austin Howard lofted a short pass to Randall Menard , who outjumped a defender in the end zone, and Southern made the score stand up to defeat Jackson State 28-24 Saturday night. The hard-fought TD was an answer to Jackson State surging briefly into a 24-21 lead in the Southwestern Athletic Conference battle. Southern (3-2, 3-0) owned a 429-280 yards advantage in total offense but couldn't shake the Tigers (2-4, 2-2), who were held to a missed field-goal attempt through a scoreless fourth quarter. JSU was penalized 14 times for 125 yards. Joshua Bates scored from the 2 in the third quarter as Jackson State took the 24-21 lead. Howard went 24 for 35 for 288 yards with two TDs -- both to Menard, who caught four balls for 68 yards. Lenard Tillery also scored twice for Southern with 127 yards on 29 carries.