BATON ROUGE, La. – Behind a strong running game led by Trey Holly, the Southern Jaguars took care of Bethune-Cookman 45-17 at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
Holly was dominant yet again for the Jags, as the SWAC's leading rusher finished with 206 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries. As a team, Southern averaged 8.7 yards per carry and piled up nearly 400 total rushing yards.
Both teams scored on their opening drives of the game, with Southern (5-5, 3-3) drawing first blood on a 42-yard Chris McKenna field goal.
Bethune-Cookman (5-5, 3-3) responded with a field goal of its own, set up by Rashon Brown's 64-yard run.
The Jaguars scored again on the following drive, as they went 12 plays for 74 yards, capped off by a rushing score by Wydell Clark Jr., making it 10-3 Southern.
After a B-CU three-and-out, the Jags scored for the third straight drive to start the game. After a 24-yard pass by Christian Johnson set them up in Wildcat territory, Trey Holly found the end zone for the first time of a 44-yard run to extend the lead to 17-3.
The Wildcats continued to struggle on offense, going three-and-out again on the next drive, and the defense were simply unable to provide resistance on the other end.
After earning good starting field position, Southern marched down the field for yet another touchdown. Johnson found Clark Jr. on a short pass that he took in for a 21-yard score, again pushing the advantage to 24-3.
B-CU searched for answers before the halftime break, even going for it on fourth down at around midfield. But, Tyler Jefferson was unable to pick it up on the run, and the momentum continued to stay with the Jaguars.
Trey Holly immediately paid it off, picking up his second 44-yard touchdown run of the day to make it 34-3.
Bethune-Cookman was unable to turn things around in the second half, as Jefferson was intercepted by Landon Carter to begin the third quarter.
From there, the Jaguars picked up another score, which effectively put the game out of reach.
Deanwar Johnson and Isaiah Daniel had second half touchdowns for B-CU, but it was too little too late.
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- Tyler Jefferson returned for the Wildcats after being held out against Arkansas - Pine Bluff. He finished with 144 passing yards and 44 rushing yards in the loss.
- Khamani Robinson also made his return to the lineup after missing time with an injury that occurred in the season-opener. He had five carries for 10 yards.
- The Wildcats forced three fumbles in the contest, two by Stephen Sparrow Jr.
- Southern scored on every first-half drive, excluding the one to end the half.
Bethune-Cookman returns home for senior day against the Grambling State Tigers, with kickoff set for Saturday at 1 p.m. EST.
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