Southern beat Jackson State 28-21

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Dray Joseph passed for 249 yards and three touchdowns to help Southern University beat Southwestern Athletic Conference foe Jackson State 28-21 Saturday.

Southern (1-2, 1-1) took the early lead when Jaleel Richardson returned the opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown.

Joseph then connected on two touchdown passes, 25 yards to Michael Berry and 4 yards to Tomas Jackson giving Southern a 21-0 halftime lead. Berry finished with 117 yards and two scores on five carries.

Jackson State (1-3, 1-1) was forced into two turnovers. Anthony Balancier intercepted Tigers starting quarterback Clayton Moore and D’Mekus Cook intercepted his backup, Dedric McDonald.

After a 60-yard touchdown pass from Joseph to Berry extended the Jaguars lead 28-0 entering the fourth quarter, McDonald then connected with Rico Richardson for the Tigers’ first points of the game.

McDonald led two more Tigers scoring drives late in the fourth, but it was not enough.