LORMAN – On a rainy day that seemed designed to bog an offense down in a quagmire, Alcorn State’s defense and special teams picked up the slack and carried the team to victory.

Alcorn forced five turnovers in the second half, returning two for touchdowns, and the special teams set up two more scores with a long punt return and a near-block of a punt to beat Southern 26-10.

&#8220We offered the defense a challenge at halftime not to let Southern score, and that’s exactly what they did,” Alcorn head coach Dr. Johnny Thomas said.

Vernardus Cooper ran for 85 yards and a touchdown for Alcorn, and Southern’s Kendall Addison gained 93 yards on 20 carries.

The win was Alcorn’s fourth in a row, and vaulted it back into the title race in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Eastern Division. Alcorn’s win, combined with Jackson State’s loss to Grambling, pulled the Braves within a game of first-place JSU.

The teams play in Jackson on Nov. 18, and Alcorn (4-3, 3-2) can claim its first division championship by winning its last four games.

&#8220We’ve been in position the last five years to make a run, and it always boils down to one game – beating an Alabama State or an Alabama A&M,” Thomas said. &#8220When you go through that, you learn as players and coaches. We’re just trying to learn from those experiences and apply them to this year to get over this hump.”

On Saturday, Alcorn showed it can win even when one of its units has an off day. The Braves managed only 228 yards of total offense, but made up for it with outstanding defensive and special teams play.

Southern’s Breck Ackley booted a 36-yard field goal with 1:02 to play in the first half to give the Jaguars (3-5, 2-4) a 10-3 lead. Alcorn’s Nate Hughes returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to the Southern 37, however, and Cooper tied the game with a 4-yard TD run with 17 seconds left in the half.

&#8220That was a big play in the game. Seeing Nate doing that on special teams, the offense knew we had to produce,” said Alcorn quarterback Chris Walker, a redshirt junior who was 8-of-18 for 86 yards in his first career start.

While the offense produced on that drive, it squandered two opportunities to put the game away early in the second half.

A long punt return by Hughes and an interception by Charleston Brown gave Alcorn the ball deep in Southern territory on consecutive possessions. Both times, the offense came away with no points after turning it over on downs and missing a field goal.

The next time Southern quarterback Joseph Lewis floated a pass downfield, Deshaun Lewis took matters into his own hands.

The Alcorn defensive back picked off an errant pass at his own 35 and ran 65 yards untouched for the go-ahead score. Jonathan Williams added the extra point to give the Braves a 17-10 lead with 2:50 to play in the third quarter.

&#8220Catch it and go,” Lewis said of his reaction to seeing nothing but open field in front of him after making the pick.

Deshaun Lewis’ interception was the third for the Braves in less than 12 minutes of the second half and triggered a rout.

They only allowed one first down the rest of the way and forced two more turnovers. The second, a fumble, was returned 4 yards by Martin Jackson for an exclamation point touchdown with 30 seconds left in the game.

The special teams unit also came up with two more key plays before calling it a day.

Alcorn’s Dwayne Taylor narrowly missed a punt block late in the third quarter that led to a field goal. Ackley sidestepped to avoid the unblocked Taylor and was swarmed by a pack of Braves at his own 7-yard line. Williams booted a 19-yard field goal four plays later to make it 20-10.

On its next offensive possession, Alcorn was forced to punt from its own end zone. Punter Tim Buckley spied an opening on the left side, however, and took off for a 21-yard gain and a first down that allowed the Braves to run a couple more minutes off the clock.

&#8220It wasn’t a designed play,” Buckley said. &#8220I saw the dude slip down and thought, ‘I could make this.’ So I took it and made a positive play.”

Thomas called the play a good one – since it, like most everything else in the second half, seemed to go the Braves’ way.

&#8220As long as he makes first downs, he’s OK,” Thomas said with a laugh. &#8220As soon as he doesn’t, we’ll put the lasso on him.”

MVSU 20, Texas Southern 18.

Tyrone Timmons caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Aries Nelson with eight seconds left to give Mississippi Valley State a win.

The winning touchdown was the third lead change of the fourth quarter, which began with Texas Southern leading 12-6.

A five-yard run by Christopher Watkins put Mississippi Valley State (4-4, 3-3 Southwestern Athletic) up 13-12 with about eight minutes to go.

The Tigers (2-5, 2-4) responded four minutes later with a 23-yard touchdown from Tino Edgecombe to Daniel Davis. The two-point conversion failed, putting Texas Southern up 18-13.

Grambling 36, Jackson St. 7.

Grambling State quarterback Brandon Landers passed for three touchdowns while the Tigers’ defense contained Jackson State.

The victory ended Jackson State’s four-game conference winning streak, dropping them to 5-2 overall and 4-1 in league play. Grambling, which fell to Arkansas-Pine Bluff last week, improved to 3-4 and 3-2.

Jackson’s State’s only score was on a 55-yard interception return by Marcus Smith in the fourth quarter. GSU’s defense held Jackson State to 148 total yards.

Landers, meanwhile, completed 18 of 36 passes with two interceptions for 350 yards. His scoring passes went for 10, 40 and 31 yards. Clyde Edwards caught two of those TDs and finished with 117 yards.