JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State dug itself an early hole with costly mistakes against preseason ASUN Conference favorite and perennial FCS power Kennesaw State.

Jax State committed four first-half turnovers – and five total – and fell behind by double digits to the Owls in the conference opener for both teams before a raucous crowd of 19,654 at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium.

But the Gamecocks (5-1, 1-0 in the ASUN) persevered and prevailed 35-28 in overtime, the winning score coming on receiver Sterling Galban's acrobatic, diving 11-yard touchdown catch from Zion Webb. Jax State's defense then delivered the knockout blow when Jackson Luttrell sacked KSU quarterback Jonathan Murphy for a loss and J-Rock Swain fell on Murphy's fumble to seal the win, setting off a wild on-field celebration.

"I don't know that I've ever had that many turnovers and won," Jacksonville State head coach Rich Rodriguez said as he savored a ceremonial victory cigar. "But our guys kept playing hard. They played with a lot of heart and it was meaningful to them.

"The crowd was fantastic, the weather was super. It was a great day to be a Jacksonville State Gamecock."

JSU's first victory in four tries against Kennesaw State didn't come easy.

The Gamecocks stormed out of the locker room after halftime and scored 18 straight points to build a 28-21 lead entering the fourth quarter. Jax State's defense held the Owls without a first down in the third quarter while the offense got a 1-yard touchdown run from Anwar Lewis, a 21-yard field goal by Alen Karajic and a 42-yard touchdown toss from Webb to Keishoen Jarrett, followed by a two-point conversion.

Kennesaw State drew even late in the fourth following Jax State's second muffed punt of the afternoon. Murphy ran for his third touchdown and Nathan Robertson's PAT made it 3:14 with remaining.

Robertson had a chance to send the Owls home as winners with a 45-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation, but his kick sailed wide right to force overtime.

Kennesaw State (1-3, 0-1) converted two Jax State turnovers into touchdowns and built a 21-10 lead at halftime.

The Owls knocked the football loose from Webb on the game's first play and recovered at JSU's 43. Kennesaw State found the end zone first in five plays, as Murphy pushed in from the 1 and Robertson added the extra point for a 7-0 lead just three minutes into the game.

Jax State avoided falling further behind after turning it over again on its second series. Swain forced an Owls fumble and Jeremiah Harris pounced on it to set up the Gamecocks' first points.

Karajic finished off the ensuing drive with a 45-yard field goal as JSU drew to within 7-3.

Jacksonville State took its first lead thanks to a special teams score.

Cole Fuller blocked a Kennesaw State punt late in the first quarter and Amon Scarbrough scooped it up in stride and raced 11 yards to the end zone. Karajic's extra point put Jax State in front 10-7 at the 3:24 mark in the first – the last time the Gamecocks led until late in the third quarter.

Kennesaw State scored two touchdowns in a span of 4½ minutes to build an 11-point lead at the half.

Murphy scored on a 2-yard run midway through the second quarter and a muffed JSU punt – the first of two special team turnovers by the Gamecocks – set up a Preston Daniels 8-yard touchdown run with 1:53 remaining before intermission.

"It was almost as if we were pressing or trying too hard," Rodriguez said. "You can see on the sideline that they were just pressing a little bit. I didn't want them to think we were out of the game."

The Gamecocks have their first open date of the season next week. Next up for Jax State is a neutral site matchup against ASUN rival North Alabama on Saturday, October 15, at Toyota Field in Madison.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and tickets are still available.
 

Jacksonville State Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
October 1, 2022
The Kennesaw State Game

Opening comments:

"I would like to say it was fun as well, but I can't really tell you that it was fun for a lot of the time, some of the time it was fun. I told some other folks, and I told the team at halftime, it was almost as if we were pressing or trying too hard at times. The guys were focused all week, we had great meetings leading up to it, and you could see on the sidelines that they were just pressing a little bit. I didn't want them to relax because we had to comeback, but then at the same time I didn't want them to think we were out of the game. The third quarter was big, we got a couple big drives, defense was phenomenal the whole game, and then here we go we got momentum and let them come back again at the end. I don't know if I've ever had that many turnovers and won, but guys kept playing hard, played with a lot of heart, it was meaningful to them. The crowd was fantastic. The weather was super, so it's a great day to be a Jacksonville State Gamecock."

On the defensive performance:

"Seemed like the whole game they were on the plus side because of turnovers or whatever and we had to go a long ways. I thought our defensive plan was exceptional. It was a little different than it was for Davidson. I thought our physicality, our tackling, we missed that quarterback, but a lot of guys miss that guy. We tackled better. They had to be out there a whole bunch, and they were without question the difference in the game was how our defense hung in there."

On Sterling Galban's overtime touchdown:

"I thought it was incomplete. I thought he caught it out of bounds, and then I saw a couple guys on the sidelines saying, 'He caught it, he caught it.' Then I could see on the highlight that he got his toe tapped in there, and I was like, 'Okay, I know these replay guys have this and they can rewind it and rewind it and rewind it. They have to see it.' The longer it goes the longer you think, 'They got to see it, what're they waiting on?' We had one more play after that, but that was huge. Sterling's a great competitor."

On Zion Webb:

"I'll give Zion (Webb) some credit, he wasn't as sharp as he was last week, but he kept competing. I'm really proud of him. Zion took a couple shots. He was seeing the field well."

On Jackson Luttrell's overtime strip sack and J-Rock Swain's recovery:

"Jackson Luttrell was pressuring all the time; it was sometimes like he was running in circles trying to tackle that guy. J-Rock (Swain) is always around, he's always around the ball. I thought our front handled things really well in a tough type of scheme normally for big guys."

Sterling Galban, WR, R-Jr.

On his overtime touchdown catch:

"It was just kind of like a natural bang-bang play. I knew it was overtime, and I knew Zion was going to give me a chance. Before that I told him to trust me and trust us receivers to make a play

for you and then he just threw it up. I kind of had like a late reaction. It was just kind of bang-bang, I didn't really think about it.

Zion Webb, QB, R-Sr.

On Galban's overtime touchdown catch:

"Like Sterling said, he was coming to me just saying, 'Believe in us, we got you, we got your back.' I rolled out, I gave him a chance, and he made the play for me. When the replay came up, I was sure that he scored."

J-Rock Swain, DE, So.

On overtime fumble recovery:

"Really, we didn't know that would come out in dice, so when we did see it, coach called the right play for us to get up the field and pass rush. When Jackson got there and made the sack, I knew had to get the ball when he made the fumble because it was the last play, really, we could make it the last play of the game. We knew we had to make a play to get off the field no matter what, and Jackson made the play and we got off the field."

Jackson Luttrell, DL, Jr.

On defense after halftime:

"Everybody just had to have good eyes and just not get tired of doing your job. At halftime we came in, made some corrections, and just at the end of the day ball pursuit's a huge thing to stop the triple option and that's what we had. Everyone was running to the ball, and whenever you have three-and-outs you don't get as tired."
 

Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – Kennesaw State
October 1, 2022 • Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium • Jacksonville, Ala.

• JSU Captains: Senior quarterback Zion Webb, senior safety Stevonte Tullis and senior linebacker Markail Benton
• Kennesaw State won the toss and elected to defer, the first time Jax State had lost the opening coin toss since Aug. 27
• Rodriguez is now 5-1 at the helm of JSU and moves to 168-120-2 for his career
• The Gamecocks claimed their first win over Kennesaw State and now are 1-3 all-time against the Owls since first meeting in 2017
• The contest was the second in the JSU-KSU series to go to overtime, along with the 2018 matchup that went five OTs
• Jax State won its first overtime game since a 41-35 playoff win over Chattanooga in 2015, ending a two-game skid in overtime contests
• The Gamecocks are now 9-8 in overtime games since moving to Division I in 1995
• JSU held the Owls to 44 passing yards, the fewest yards allowed through the air since limiting Austin Peay to 31 yards passing on Nov. 1, 2014
• Cole Fuller's block and Amon Scarbrough's 11-yard return became JSU's first blocked punt returned for a touchdown since doing so against Georgia State on Sept. 17, 2011
• Webb finished 11-of-22 passing for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including the eventual game-winning, 11-yard strike to Galban in overtime
• Quarterback Aaron McLaughlin completed his only attempted of the day for a career-best 40-yard pass to Ahmad Edwards in the third quarter
• Receiver Keishoen Jarrett hauled in a 42-yard touchdown catch from Webb late in the third quarter for his first reception of the season to regain the lead for JSU
• Luttrell's forced fumble in overtime to seal the win was just the second of his career, and his first since 2019
• Swain's fumble recovery on the final play was just the second of his career; the first of his career came last season against UT Martin
• In his third career start, freshman safety Fred Perry led the Gamecocks defense with a career-high 11 tackles