SHREVEPORT — Alcornites said they’d shock the world with the hiring of Jay Hopson. Saturday night at the Port City Classic, Alcorn State shocked the Southwestern Athletic Conference by rallying from a 12-point deficit in the last 9 minutes to beat defending champion Grambling State, 22-21.

Hopson, a Vicksburg native who became the first white head football coach in SWAC history, was happy for his team, but at the same time said there’s still a long road ahead.

“The kids kept fighting and I’m really happy for them,” Hopson said. “At the same time, this is a long process. There were things as a football coach I saw that I wasn’t happy with it. It’s one game. We’ve got to clean a lot of stuff up and get ready for a national championship contender in James Madison next week.”

Alcorn (1-0, 1-0 SWAC) trailed 21-9 in the third quarter but came back with two touchdowns in the final 9 minutes and 5 seconds of the game.

Arnold Walker’s 5-yard run with 1:23 left in the game put the Braves ahead 22-21. They then tried for a 2-point conversion but were held short.

Grambling made the most of its last shot with the ball. Completions by quarterback D.J. Williams got the Tigers (0-1, 0-1 SWAC) across midfield. He converted a key fourth down pass at the ASU 33 with 31 seconds left.

A first down pass fell incomplete and a 6-yard swing toss nearly ate up the remaining time. The Tigers still got a final shot with a 42-yard field goal attempt from Fabian Carter. The kick was well short and rolled dead at the 15.

Grambling coach Doug Williams, the former Washington Redskins’ Super Bowl winning quarterback, said his team was felled by its mistakes.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot,” Williams said. “We had the two bobbled punts that set up some scores and then on that last kick, he (Carter) just hit the ball too hard and it will come out that way. I know it’s a big win for Alcorn but they still have to deal with the East. Maybe we can see them again in the conference title game.”

Alcorn had just 109 yards of offense in the first half, but did get nine points following two muffed punts recovered inside the Grambling 10. Joe Price scored the first TD in the Hopson era on an 8-yard run.

The second muffed kick led to a 24-yard field goal by Ernesto Santillan that made it 14-9 with 18 seconds left in the second quarter.

A minus-5 yard punt set up Dawrence Roberts’ 1-yard TD run to give Grambling a 21-9 lead in the third quarter.

A 40-yard reverse by Tavoris Doss ignited the Braves’ comeback. Four plays later, Darius Smith scored on a 3-yard run to close the gap to 21-16 with 9:05 left.

Alcorn got the ball back with six minutes to play. It went 65 yards as Smith connected on passes of 16 and 11 yards to Martez Shelby. Arnold went in from 5 yards out with 1:23 left for the winning score.

Alcorn will play at James Madison next week.