CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The road continues to be unkind to Jacksonville State.
The No. 11-ranked Gamecocks, playing away from Burgess-Snow Field for only the second time this year, dropped a 52-33 decision to Austin Peay at Fortera Stadium on Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams. It marked the first JSU loss on the Governors' home field since 1960.
Senior receiver
Josh Pearson snagged two fourth-quarter touchdown passes from
Zerrick Cooper to surpass Joey Hamilton (1996-99) as the Gamecocks' all-time leader in TD receptions with 24.
Four first-half turnovers led to a 24-point halftime deficit that the Gamecocks were unable to overcome.
The Governors (3-2, 1-0) intercepted three Cooper passes and completely neutralized Jacksonville State's run game throughout to halt the Gamecocks' 12-game dominance in the series. JSU has lost four of its last five road games dating back to 2018's regular-season finale at Kennesaw State.
JaVaughn Craig accounted for four touchdowns and Kente Williams ran for two scores as Austin Peay handed JSU head coach
John Grass just the second conference loss of his six-year career.
"They just kicked our rear ends. That's all you can say," said Grass. "It was just a poor performance everywhere.
"I thought if we could have gone in at halftime (trailing) 17-7 we would have been OK. Then we just had a disastrous five minutes in the second quarter and dug ourselves a deep hole."
Austin Peay led 31-7 at halftime and scored two more quick touchdowns to extend its lead to 45-7 less than four minutes into the second half.
Cooper kept alive a streak of 18 straight games as a Gamecock with at least one touchdown toss when he connected on a 4-yarder to
KJ Stepherson in the fourth quarter. He finished the afternoon 27-of-53 for 301 yards and three touchdowns – all in the final quarter – and was Jacksonville State's leading rusher with 25 yards on seven carries.
No other JSU runner managed more than 12 yards. The Govs' defense allowed only 2.3 yards per rush (23 times for 62 yards).
Jacksonville State's other points came on Cooper's 8-yard scramble late in the third quarter and Jaelen's Greene 2-yard run late in the first.
Eleven Jacksonville State players had at least one catch. Senior
Jamari Hester caught five passes for 47 yards to move into sixth place on Jacksonville State's all-time receiving yardage list at 1,766.
Austin Peay outgained JSU 466-363, a season-low for total yardage for the Gamecocks.
Zack Woodard had a season-high 12 tackles defensively.
The Gamecocks seek their first league win when they host Tennessee State next week at Burgess-Snow Field. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game is available on ESPN+.
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – at Austin Peay
September 28, 2019 • Fortera Stadium • Clarksville, Tenn.
- JSU Captains: senior wide receiver Josh Pearson, junior quarterback Zerrick Cooper, sophomore cornerback Yul Gowdy, sophomore linebacker Zack Woodard.
- Austin Peay won the toss and deferred to the second half.
- Two players made their first career start for the Gamecocks on Saturday: sophomore linebacker Marshall Clark and freshman defensive end Phillip Hopkins.
- With his two touchdown catches in the game, Josh Pearson now has 24 career touchdown catches, breaking Joey Hamilton's (1996-99) school record for touchdown receptions in a JSU career.
- JSU is now 20-7-3 all-time in the series against Austin Peay and had won the last 12 meetings with the Govs. The Gamecocks are 8-4-2 all-time in Clarksville.
- The Gamecocks are now 13-4 in OVC openers since joining the league in 2003. JSU's last loss in an OVC opener was in 2013.
- The loss was just the second OVC defeat for JSU under John Grass. The Gamecocks are now 38-2 in league games since Grass took over as head coach in 2014.
- KJ Stepherson's four-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter was his first career touchdown catch as a Gamecock. It was his 11th career touchdown catch after hauling in 10 in two seasons at Notre Dame.
- With is 47 receiving yards in the game, senior Jamari Hester now has 1,766 in his career. He moved past Ralph Jenkins (1,738 from 2000-03) for sixth place on the school's career receiving yards list.
- Jaelen Greene's two-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter was his second of the season and gives him a rushing score in back-to-back weeks.
- Zerrick Cooper's eight-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter was his fourth of the season and the 10th of his career.
- Zerrick Cooper has thrown for at least one touchdown in all 18 games of his JSU career.
