title image via Tennessee State Football
Tennessee State and Mississippi Valley State renewed football pleasantries in the 25th John Merritt Classic. The two schools last met in the 2019 Classic, with Tennessee State claiming a 26-20 victory.
In a largely dominant, but uneven performance, as they gave up 21 points in the fourth quarter, Tennessee State was able to bring home the 25th edition of the John Merritt Classic, 41-21 over the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State.
Big plays were the order of the day for Tennessee State with the Tigers completing 6 plays of 30 yards or more, including touchdown plays of 55, 46, and 31 yards, respectively. The Tennessee State defense was able to force two turnovers, one of which they turned into immediate points.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for the Tigers. The team was flagged for 10 penalties, something which Tennessee State’s head coach said was “way too many” in his post-game comments. Coach George said of Draylen Ellis, who had a career-best 356 passing yards, to go along with 3 touchdowns and was named offensive player of the game. “[he] took ownership of where he is right now, [he] led the offense, kept them calm. [I] loved the language in the huddle when things weren’t going well. [and he] made big plays. “
The win was the first time in the Eddie George era that the Tigers still had an unblemished loss record after game 1. “Anytime you can get that first one under your belt, it’s great. This was the first time we’ve had an opener [win] since I’ve been here so we were able to have a familiar routine without the distractions of going on the road. We had a really good fall camp and, a great week of preparation. We saw some great things over the last two to three weeks of us really growing and maturing”
How it went down
It was Tennessee State who struck first when Draylen Ellis connected with Jalal Dean on a 55-yard scoring strike; the converted extra point from James Lowery brought the score to 7-0 at the 12:26 mark of the opening quarter.
Tennessee State almost used the big play, later in the quarter when Ellis found Da’Shon Davis on what appeared to be a 73-yard touchdown pass, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when Davis flipped into the end zone, erased the touchdown, making it 1st and 10 at the MVSU 16 yard line.
The right of that penalty would be corrected when Ellis found Jordan Gant, who bobbled the pass before securing it and taking it in from a yard out to extend the TSU advantage to 14-0 with the converted extra point.
The Tigers seemed well on their way to putting up their third score of the opening frame when Ellis, on what seemed like miscommunication with Jason Hoarth Jr, was intercepted by Valley State’s Ralpheal Marshall, who returned it to the TSU 43-yard line. On the ensuing MVSU offensive play, Eriq George’s sack of Ty’Jarian Williams forced a fumble which Micah Gay scooped up and took 54 yards to the house to put Tennessee State up 21-0 with 1:42 left in the first quarter.
TSU pushed their lead to 24-0, after a 14-play, 65-yard drive stalled at the MVSU 3-yard line, leading to a 20-yard field goal off the foot of James Lowery with 8:56 left in the first half.
After the Tennessee State defense forced their second turnover of the half, via a Boogie Trotter interception, _ plays later Ellis linked up with Karate Benson on a 30-yard pass that extended the Tigers lead to 31-0 with just 1:06 left in the half and that would be the score after the opening thirty minutes of play.
The Tigers racked up 301 yards of total offense in the first half, just 32 yards came on the ground, on 14 attempts. Quarterback Draylen Ellis’ 269 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first half exceeded his season’s best performances in both areas from all of last year.
Valley broke the seal on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter on a Kerrick Ross 27-yard touchdown reception that completed a 13-play, 81 drive for the Delta Devils.
Tennessee State responded on their ensuing drive, with a 55-yard completion from Ellis to Karate Benson setting up a subsequent 20-yard touchdown run from Jalen Rouse that brought the score to 38-7 in favor of the Tigers.
MVSU scored on their next offensive possession when Jakobe Thomas plunged in from a yard out to bring the score to 38-14.
A James Lowery 32-yard field goal, pushed the lead to 41-14, capping a 7-play, 50-yard drive.
Valley continued to show fight got back in the end zone in their very next possession, when Lee Ruben connected with a double-covered Nathan Rembert on a 48-yard strike, that brought the count to 41-21.
The Tigers have their work cut out for them when they head to Fargo, ND next week to take on perennial FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
