PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – Josh Barge and his Jacksonville State teammates will be adding another piece of jewelry to their growing collection.

Barge, JSU's junior receiver from Carrollton, Ga., etched his name in the record book as the No. 1 Gamecocks clinched their second straight Ohio Valley Conference championship with a 56-28 win over Southeast Missouri at Burgess-Snow Field.

Jacksonville State (9-1, 7-0) claimed its fifth OVC crown by extending its league winning streak to 16, now the longest conference streak among all FCS teams after Harvard lost to Penn on Saturday. It marks the first back-to-back league titles for the Gamecocks since 2003-04, their first two seasons in the OVC.

"Offensively, that's the best day we've had in awhile," said Jacksonville State head coach John Grass. "I'm excited for our guys. They came out and played well, took care of business and beat a good football team.

"I'm excited to be sitting in the position that we're in. Now we just have to finish it out."

Jacksonville State hosts Murray State next Saturday at 1 p.m. in the regular-season finale.

Barge became Jacksonville State's all-time reception leader in the second quarter when he snared an Eli Jenkins pass for a short gain, moving past Joey Hamilton (1996-99) with his 179th career catch. He also extended his school record of consecutive games with at least one catch to 35.

"Eli puts his trust in me and puts the ball out there and lets me make plays," Barge said. "We worked together all summer running routes and it's just a great feeling to see it finally start to pay off."

Barge had seven receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns and in the process also established a single-season receiving record, surpassing the mark of 62 catches previously held by Ronald Bonner (1997).

Sporting special alternate red camouflage uniforms for Military Appreciation Day, the Gamecocks produced their second-highest offensive output of the season with 617 total yards, including 399 on the ground.

Barge caught touchdown passes of 4 and 24 yards from Jenkins, Troymaine Pope ran for touchdowns of 2 and 30 yards and backup quarterback Christian LeMay finished with 124 yards rushing and two touchdowns as JSU overwhelmed the Redhawks (4-6, 3-3) over the final three quarters.

Pope ran for 137 yards on 17 carries, the ninth 100-yard performance of his career, third-most in school history.

Jenkins connected on a 28-yard scoring pass to Markis Merrill as JSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 5:49 to go in the first quarter.
The junior quarterback finished with 194 yards passing and also contributed his first career reception, catching an 8-yard pass from Dalton Etheridge on a trick play on fourth-and-5 deep in SEMO territory in the second quarter.

Barge's two touchdown catches in the second quarter lifted the Gamecocks to a 21-7 lead by intermission.
Jacksonville State blew it open by scoring 21 points in a span of 6 minutes, 40 seconds in the third. Miles Jones had a 22-yard TD run sandwiched between Pope's two scoring runs as JSU built a 42-14 cushion.

SEMO scored twice in the fourth quarter after the Gamecocks had opened their largest lead, 49-14, with 10:24 remaining.

LeMay, on in relief of Jenkins, scored on his two longest runs of the season on consecutive possessions. His 51-yard jaunt capped a three-play, 68-yard drive and increased JSU's lead to 56-21.
 
POST-GAME NOTES
· Jacksonville State captains: senior cornerback Rashod Byers, redshirt-junior wide receiver Dalton Screws, senior linebacker Dawson Wells and redshirt-senior tight-end Spencer Goffigan.
 
· JSU won the opening coin toss. It's the ninth time this season the Gamecocks have won the toss and deferred to the second half.
 
• Jacksonville State claimed the school's 20th Football Conference Championship in school history and the fifth OVC title. JSU also won the OVC title in 2003, 2004, 2011 and 2014.
 
* JSU head coach John Grass becomes just the second coach to win back-to-back OVC Championships in the first two years of their career, joining EIU's Dino Babers, who won titles in 2012 and 2013.
 
· Wide receiver Josh Barge set the Jax State single-season and career reception record during the game. The Carrollton, Ga., native finished with seven catches during the game, which set the single-season record at 68 and career mark at 182. The previous single-season mark was held by Ronald Bonner at 62 set in 1997. Joey Hamilton, 1996-99, held the previous career reception mark with 178.
 
· Josh Barge finished with 108 receiving yards. It's the 11th time in his career he's gone over the century mark, which is three behind Joey Hamilton's school record of 14 games with 100-or-more receiving yards.
 
· Quarterback Eli Jenkins moved into second place on the Jacksonville State career total offense list after finishing with 250 total yards during the Gamecocks' win (194 passing and 56 rushing). He is just 797 yards from Montressa Kirby's school mark of 7,688.
 
· With the win, JSU extends its current Ohio Valley Conference winning streak to 16 games. It's now the longest conference winning streak in the nation after Harvard lost to Penn.
 
· Jax State has now won 20-straight games against non-FBS opponents, with its last loss coming at Eastern Illinois on November 16, 2013.
 
· By outscoring Southeast Missouri 14-0 in the second quarter, the Gamecocks have now outscored their opponents 136-23 during the second quarter, including an 84-13 mark over their last six games.
 
· JSU has won eight straight in the series vs SEMO and holds a 16-4 lead in the all-time series. JSU is 12-1 vs the Redhawks since joining the OVC in 2003 and is 9-1 in games in Jacksonville vs SEMO.
 
· JSU head coach John Grass extends the best start by a head coach in Jacksonville State history as he has run his career-record to 19-3 through 22 games.
 
· Despite only playing the second half, quarterback Christian LeMay set a career-high in rushing yards with 124 yards on six carries. . Much of the damage came on his two rushing touchdowns, also a career-high, that went 42 and 51 yards.
 
· Running back Troymaine Pope went over the century mark for the ninth time in his career, which ties him with Rondy Rogers for third all-time for most career 100-yard rushing performances. He finished with a game-high 137 yards on 17 carries and Jacksonville State 9-0 when he goes over 100 yards on the ground.
 
· JSU topped 600 yards for the second time this season after posting 617 yards of total offense, which is the seventh-most in Gamecock history. JSU had 619 yards of total offense earlier this season at Tennessee Tech.
 
· By holding the Redhawks to only 93 rushing yards, the Gamecock defense has now held six opponents to less than 100 rushing-or less this season. It marks the 61st time since moving to Division in 1995 the opponents have been held to 100 yards or less.