“It was good to get a victory tonight,” Grambling State head coach Broderick Fobbs said. “We didn’t play well and we had a lot of mistakes and a lot of penalties. Coach (Tony) Hughes and his staff have done an excellent job and at the end of the day, they gave us all that we could handle. We were just able to grind out the victory.”
Grambling State (2-1) took advantage of a safety just eight seconds into the game as the snap to Jackson State quarterback Brent Lyles was high and over his head as he retrieved the ball in the end zone. Lyles ran out of the back of the end zone to give GSU a quick 2-0 lead.
Grambling State set up shop on its own 46 to begin its first drive. GSU marched 54 yards in just six plays, capped by a Devante Kincade 13-yard touchdown run to give Grambling State a 9-0 advantage with 12:35 remaining in the opening quarter.
Jackson State (0-3) cut the margin to 9-7 as Lyles scored on a two-run quarterback keeper with 44 seconds left in the first quarter.
JSU put together a seven-play, 81-yard drive and took 3:07 off the clock as Jordan Johnson punched in the go-ahead score to give Jackson State a 14-9 lead with 11:29 left in the first half.
Back came Grambling State as Martez Carter ran past the Jackson State defense and 51 yards into the end zone to give GSU the lead for good at 16-14 with 9:34 left in the half.
Grambling State got a 24-yard field goal from Marc Orozco with 4:18 remaining in the second quarter to push the advantage to 19-14.
Orozco added his second field goal, a 37-yarder, with 9:54 left in the third to extend the advantage to 22-14.
Jackson State answered as Lyles found Benjy Parrish on a 33-yard touchdown pass on third down, cutting the deficit to a single point, 22-21, with 7:03 left.
But that would be all Jackson State would get as Kincade connected with Lyndemian Brooks on a 51-yard touchdown pass with 12:17 remaining and De’Arius Christmas recovered a fumble and scored with 3:33 left to put the game out of reach.
