BATON ROUGE, La. – The Mississippi Valley State University football program dug itself a 27-0 hole before getting on the scoreboard and had numerous opportunities to cut into the deficit late but were unsuccessful in a 27-7 decision.

The Basics
 

• Score: Southern 27 | Mississippi Valley State 7

 

• Records: Mississippi Valley State (1-9, 1-6 SWAC) | Southern (5-4, 3-3 SWAC)

 

• Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana – A.W. Mumford Stadium

 

• Series History: Southern Leads 40-8

 

• Winning Streak: Southern (W6) | Mississippi Valley State's Last Official Win: September 10, 2005 (31-28)

 

• The Delta Devils defeated the Jaguars on September 13, 2012 by a score of 6-0, but it was later vacated due to NCAA violations.

 

• All-Time History vs. SWAC Opponents: SWAC Leads 302-136-9

 
Mississippi Valley State Top Performers
 

• Jalen Bell was a menace to the Jags' offensive line all day, snatching a career-best eight tackles and three tackles for loss.

 

• Jakobe Thomas took advantage of his lead back status for the afternoon, rumbling for a game-high 77 rushing yards and his second touchdown of the season, averaging 6.4 yards per carry as well as posting his first career multi-catch game as a receiver with a pair of receptions for 21 yards.

 

• Kenneth Martin and Deione Reed each matched Bell's eight tackles for career and season-highs, respectively, with the former grabbing a tackle for loss while the latter logged a career-most 1.5 TFLs.

 

• Jalani Eason had a season-high 16 completions on 32 attempts for a game-high of 146 yards with his arm as both signal-callers had to battle 20-plus MPH winds.

 

• Stefon Smith Sr. brought down a season-most seven ballcarriers and three of which came behind the line of scrimmage.

 

• Ronnie Thomas added a sack/TFL for his seventh contest with at least a half-sack and ninth game with a tackle for loss over ten matchups in 2022.

 

• On special teams, Orlando Fernandez was pinpoint as usual by coffin cornering three Southern possessions inside the red zone, one from 51 yards away, and made his only PAT try while Anthony Turnage boomed his second career kickoff touchback.

 
Notes:
 

• The Delta Devil defense held a powerful Southern offense mostly in check, limiting the Jags to 349 total yards and 240 through the air, both season-lows for MVSU, on top of racking up a season-best 12 tackles for loss under Defensive Coordinator Javier Gonzalez.

 

• The men from Itta Bena did not have a single penalty accepted against them in the first half and watched as the home squad compiled 12 flags compared to just six for the visitors.

Mississippi Valley will look to play spoiler on Senior Day versus Prairie View A&M as the Panthers invade the Delta with a chance to clinch its second straight SWAC West Championship with a victory at 1 p.m. inside Rice-Totten Stadium.
 
Follow the Mississippi Valley State football program on Twitter (@ValleyStateFB) and Instagram (@ValleyStateFB).
 
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