ITTA BENA, Miss. — Jason Gabriel ran for 97 yards and a touchdown in Southern’s 34-29 win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday in a season opener at Rice-Totten Stadium.
Gabriel’s 25-yard scoring run with 8:35 left in the fourth quarter gave Southern (1-1, 1-0 SWAC) a 12-point cushion. The Delta Devils (0-1, 0-1) cut it to 34-29 with 1:45 remaining on Joshua Brown’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Christian White, but the Jaguars recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
Cam’Ron McCoy accounted for two scores for Southern, throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Darren Morris and adding a 9-yard rushing score. Trey Holly added a 3-yard touchdown run. Kicker Nathan Zimmer made two field goals, including a 32-yarder early in the fourth quarter.
Brown passed for 146 yards and two touchdowns for Mississippi Valley State, including a 53-yarder to Caleb Brownlow in the second quarter. Backup Brandon Nunez added 72 passing yards, highlighted by a 73-yard strike to Mekhi Norris that set up a field goal. Valley’s defense also scored when Jamari Stokes returned a fumble 38 yards in the third quarter.
Southern finished with 364 total yards, including 212 on the ground, while Valley managed 296. The Jaguars converted 6 of 16 third downs and 3 of 4 fourth downs, compared with the Delta Devils’ 2 of 14 on third down.
This story was drafted using an AI tool based on the official game box score and was then reviewed and edited by a journalist before publishing.
