UAPB no match for Grambling, in live action

BECK CROSS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

SHREVEPORT -- Arkansas-Pine Bluff's weaknesses were exposed as it fell out of contention for the Southwestern Athletic Conference title on Saturday night.
In a must-win situation against defending conference champion and division leader Grambling State (5-0, 4-0), UAPB (3-2, 1-2) was its own worst enemy with five turnovers, an ineffective offense and numerous mental mistakes, allowing the Tigers to stroll to a 60-7 victory in the Red River Classic at Independence Stadium.
"Grambling is a heck of a lot better than I thought they were on film,'' UAPB Coach Lee Hardman said. "The defense kept us in it for a while, but you can't keep asking them to do what we were.
"We can't quit. We just got beat by a very good football team.''
UAPB's troubles began early as it dug itself a 29-0 halftime hole. Aaron Wall had a punt blocked by Kalvin Pearson on UAPB's second possession. John Brantley recovered for Grambling at the Golden Lions' 36.
Six plays later, Brian Morgan's 42-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright and bounced off, but Grambling would have many other opportunities.
The Lions again set up Grambling in prime field position 40 seconds later after Philip Doolin's fumble at the UAPB 44.
Grambling's Vyron Brown got a block off right end and raced down the sideline untouched to cap a 42-yard scoring run on the second play of the drive. The extra point was no good after a botched snap, and the Tigers led 6-0 with 8:36 left in the first quarter.
Grambling's halftime lead could've been larger, but it settled for three consecutive field goals from Morgan from 48, 39 and 44 yards to pad its lead to 15-0 with 7:22 left in the half.
The Tigers put the game out of reach in the final 2:20 of the half. Randy Hymes capped a five-play, 66-yard drive with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ellis Spears.
Grambling extended its lead to 29-0 with 32 seconds left on a 45-yard pass from Hymes to Spears after UAPB's third turnover.
"We couldn't complete the pass downfield,'' Hardman said. "They had 11 people on the line of scrimmage, and we missed Mark [Bradley] three times downfield wide-open.''
UAPB, ranked 114th out of 123 Division I-AA teams in total offense, was held to 67 total yards and three first downs in the first half.
Grambling St. 9 20 24 7 -- 60
Ark.-Pine Bluff 0 0 7 0 -- 7

First Quarter
GSU--Brown 42 run (run failed), 8:36
GSU--FG Morgan 42, 4:02

Second Quarter
GSU--FG Morgan 39, 13:55
GSU--FG Morgan 44, 7:28
GSU--Spears 27 pass from Hymes (Morgan kick), 2:20
GSU--Spears 45 pass from Hymes (Morgan kick), 0:32

Third Quarter
GSU--Shanklin 71 punt return (Morgan kick), 14:04
UAPB--Williams 40 pass from Leonard (Wall kick), 12:19
GSU--Young 3 run (Morgan kick), 9:04
GSU--FG Morgan 28, 3:49
GSU--Washington 11 pass from Hymes (Morgan kick), 0:23
Fourth Quarter
GSU--Young 43 run (Morgan kick), 9:09
Attendance--17,939
GRA UAPB
First downs 24 11
Rushes-yards 48-333 22-70
Passing 182 161
Return yards 111 7
Comp-Att-Int 9-26-1 14-30-2
Punts 2-29 7-33
Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-4
Penalties-yards 8-67 10-87
Time of Possession 39:02 20:58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Grambling St., Hill 23-124, YHoung 6-58, Hymes 4-54, V. Brown 4-44, Shanklin 2-24, Charles 5-17, Lawrence 2-9, K. Brown 1-2, Mays 1-1. Ark.-Pine Bluff, Thomas 3-36, Leonard 4-33, Powell 2-11, Johnson 11-6, McKissick 1-0, Wall 1-(minus 16).
PASSING--Grambling St., Hymes 9-25-0 182, Mays 0-1-1 0. Ark.-Pine Bluff, Leonard 14-30-2 161.
RECEIVING--Grambling St., Spears 5-151, Petty 1-13, Washington 1-11, Shanklin 1-10, Anderson 1-(minus 3). Ark.-Pine Bluff, Doolin 6-40, Williams 4-92, Pilcher 2-7, Bradley 1-15, Johnson 1-7.

This article was published on October 14, 2001

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