Alcorn State needed some last-minute magic to stay in first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s West Division.

The Braves converted two third downs on their final drive, and Noah Kiani finished it off with a 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left to beat Grambling 17-15 on Saturday.

Alcorn State (4-3, 3-0 SWAC) won its third conference game in a row following a 1-3 start.

Grambling (3-3, 0-2) scored on a 3-yard run by Dedrick Talbert late in the third quarter, then took a 15-14 lead on Reed Harradine’s 44-yard field goal with 10:58 left in the fourth. It punted the ball back to Alcorn with 3:26 to go and the Braves started their game-winning march at their own 38-yard line.

Tavarious Griffin converted a third-and-1, and then quarterback Xzavier Vaughn ran 13 yards for another first down on third-and-13. The latter put the ball at the Grambling 10 and gave Kiani a much easier look at the game-winning field goal attempt.

Grambling’s last play after the kickoff was a short pass that was lateraled three times before it was fumbled at the Tigers’ 27-yard line.

Vaughn was 10-of-18 passing for 149 yards and a touchdown for. He threw a 73-yard TD pass to Stemarion Edwards.

Jacorian Sewell rushed for 102 yards on 13 carries, and scored the Braves’ first touchdown on a 63-yard run midway through the first quarter.

Harradine kicked three field goals for Grambling, from 30, 22 and 44 yards. Talbert finished with 52 rushing yards on 11 carries.

Alabama State 54, Mississippi Valley State 17
Kareem Keye passed for 326 yards and four touchdowns, and Alabama State (3-3, 2-1 SWAC) overcame an early 14-0 deficit to blow out Mississippi Valley State (0-6, 0-2).

Valley took its lead in the first quarter when Ty’Jarian Davis scored on a 1-yard run and then threw a 28-yard TD pass to Jaxson Davis. Williams finished 13-of-20 passing for 108 yards.

Alabama State erased its deficit by scoring on back-to-back possessions late in the first quarter, then took the lead for good on an 84-yard TD pass from Keye to Robert McMinn with 6:05 left in the second. Keye and McMinn also hooked up for a 38-yard TD with 1:17 to go that put Alabama State ahead 34-17 at halftime.

Former Warren Central star Brandon Gilliam kicked two field goals in the second half for Alabama State, from 24 and 32 yards. He was also 6-for-7 on PATs.

West Florida 40, Delta State 28
Marcus Stokes threw two touchdown passes to Corey Scott in the fourth quarter as West Florida (3-2, 2-1 Gulf South Conference) came from behind to beat Delta State (4-2, 1-1).

Stokes completed 17 of 21 passes for 326 yards and three TDs. He threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Scott with 11:20 left in the game, just one play after Delta State had taken the lead, to put the Argonauts ahead 33-28. Stokes’ 26-yard TD to Scott with 5:46 left made it 40-28.

Stokes also rushed for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

Delta State quarterback Cole Kirk was 11-of-21 passing for 141 yards and one touchdown, and also had a rushing TD. Kelvin Smith ran for 96 yards and a touchdown.

West Alabama 26, Mississippi College 0
Devontae Causey rushed for 60 yards and one touchdown, Spencer Arceneaux threw for a TD and ran for another, and West Alabama shut out Mississippi College (0-6, 0-4 Gulf South Conference).

Former Warren Central star Lamar Gray had four solo tackles for West Alabama (5-0, 2-0).
Mississippi College only attempted two passes — both were incomplete — and finished with 143 rushing yards. Marcus Williams had 85 of those.

The Choctaws were shut out for the second game in a row. They have scored seven points or less in six of their seven games this season.

Centre College 24, Millsaps 20
Millsaps College (2-2, 1-1 Southern Athletic Association) chopped a 24-0 deficit to one score in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t complete the comeback and lost to Centre College (4-1, 2-0).

Jack Gohmann was 25-of-41 passing for 253 yards and two touchdowns for Centre College. Millsaps quarterback Cole Canatella had one passing and one rushing touchdown.

Canatella’s 34-yard TD to Connor Ladner was the Majors’ third touchdown in a nine-minute span of the third and fourth quarters and got them to within 24-20 with 10:05 remaining. Their next possession ended in a punt, though, and Centre was able to pick up three first downs to burn off the last four minutes.

Belhaven 38, Southern Virginia 17
Devin Daniels and Caleb Gallashaw both rushed for more than 100 yards to lead Belhaven’s potent ground attack, and the Blazers (2-4, 2-2 USA South) to an easy win against Southern Virginia (0-6, 0-4).

Belhaven scored 31 straight points after falling behind 10-0 early in the second quarter. It had 350 rushing yards as a team.

Daniels finished with 160 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries, and Gallashaw had 123 yards and a TD on nine carries. Daniels scored on runs of 48, 66 and 19 yards.

Gallashaw’s total included a school-record 91-yard touchdown that put the Blazers ahead for good, 14-10 with 1:40 left in the second quarter.