SWAC

Gooden, Tigers top Lions (0-5)

Tommy Gooden made sure Arkansas-Pine Bluff wouldn’t get the best of Jackson State again.

In a rematch of last year’s Southwestern Athletic Conference title game, Gooden rushed for touchdowns of 6 and 30 yards after UAPB took a third-quarter lead and finished with 214 yards and 4 touchdowns in Jackson State’s 43-33 comeback victory Saturday in Jackson, Miss.

Less than a year after UAPB beat Jackson State for the SWAC title - UAPB won 24-21 in overtime for its first outright league title - the Golden Lions fell to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in the SWAC, their worst start since losing their first seven games of Coach Monte Coleman’s first season in 2008.

Their latest loss - again coming with several key players missing because of NCAA certification issues - came after Gooden, who had 53 yards in last year’s SWAC title game, helped Jackson State rush for 366 yards.

UAPB gained 454 yards of offense, 361 of which were gained by junior quarterback Ben Anderson.

Anderson completed 16 of 33 passes for 295 yards and touchdown passes of 14 yards to Brandon Kensey in the first quarter and 7 yards to Jamie Smith in the third.

The touchdown from Anderson, who also rushed for 66 yards, to Smith came after Anthony Smith recovered a fumble of Jackson State quarterback Clayton Moore on the Jackson State 4 and gave UAPB a 33-28 lead with 5:16 left in the third quarter.

But on the following possession Gooden capped an 8-play, 75-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to put Jackson State (4-2, 4-0) up 35-33 and the Golden Lions were held to 58 yards in the fourth quarter. His final touchdown run came with 1:00 left.

Rakeem Sims added 86 yards rushing for the Tigers, who averaged 6.1 yards on 60 rushes, and Moore rushed for 45 yards to go along with 7 of 15 passing for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns.

UAPB took a 13-0 lead when Jeremiah Young scored on a 10-yard run and Kensey caught a 13-yard touchdown pass, and led 20-7 after Young’s 14-yard touchdown run.

SATURDAY’S GAMES Jackson State 42, UAPB 33 Miss. Valley State 28, Alabama A&M 9 Alcorn State 57, Warner Univ. 0 Prairie View 31, Grambling State 3 Alabama State 34, Texas Southern 2

Sports, Pages 35 on 10/06/2013

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