Courtesy: TSU Sports Information
Houston, TX – It didn’t come easy, but the Texas Southern Tigers have captured their first victory in their new home. Texas Southern beat Grambling State 23-20 in the BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday.
The TSU Tigers started strong and finished focused to get the win.
Texas Sothern took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Quarterback Rudy Johnson got the drive started with two rushes for 28 yards. Johnson then took his attack to the air by connecting with Fred Plummer twice for 14 yard and 25 yard gains. TSU capped the drive with a 1 yard touchdown pass to James Davis.
TSU got on the board again in the second quarter when Johnson finished a 13 yard drive with a 5 yard touchdown pass to Davis. The kick was good and Texas Southern held a 14-0 lead with 10:28 left in the half.
Grambling State scored on two big plays before the end of the first half. Frank Rivers hit Jeremy Hernandez for a 24 yard touchdown pass. Rivers completed his second touchdown pass of the game to Anthony McGhee to tie the game 14-14 going into the half.
Grambling picked up another big play in third quarter when Rivers connected with Musa Mahmud for a 60 yard touchdown pass. They missed the extra point and GSU led 20-14.
The Texas Southern’s defense got the Tigers back on the score board when Eric Brown took an interception 21 yards for the score. Two penalties pushed the Tigers back and they missed the extra point. The game was tied 20-20.
Texas Southern took the lead and the locked down the win with 4:14 left in the fourth quarters when Robert Hersh kicked a 32 yard field goal.
Johnson played his first complete game as the signal caller. He completed 11 of 17 passes for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed for 59 yards. Plummer had 3 catches for 36 yards and Davis had two touchdown grabs. Edward Perkins-Loving carried the ball 19 times for 128 yards.
William Parker led the defense with 10 tackles 1 TFL and a forced fumble. Brown had three tackles and an interception for a TD.
The Tigers improve to 2-4 in conference. TSU will face Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, November 3rd for homecoming at 2:00pm in the BBVA Compass Stadium.
