Tennessee State loses close one to Arkansas-Pine Bluff 37-31

FROM tsutigers.com:

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State football team fell in a down-to-the-final-play heartbreaker to Arkansas Pine Bluff, 37-31, Saturday afternoon in Hale Stadium.

Trailing for much of the game, Al-Malik Moore caught his first touchdown pass of his career to lift the Tigers to a 24-19 lead over the Golden Lions.

Three of Arkansas Pine-Bluff’s extra point attempts were blocked – two by 6-6 Malik Abdul-Haqq and another by Khalil Jones, allowing the Tigers a chance to make up the seven-point deficit with one minute left on the clock. A toe-dragging touchdown by Steven Newbold tied the game, 31-31. A fourth down, last-minute attempt by UAPB proved successful as the Golden Lions’ Jeremy Brown walked into the end zone on a 17-yard pass, winning the game for Pine Bluff.

Cameron Rosendahl, who has led the Tigers all season, finished the game with 334 passing yards. Local phenom Chris Rowland led the receiving game with 154 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown, followed closely by Newbold with 91 yards on seven carries.

Ronnie Killings and Terry Straughter led the defensive push totaling nine and eight tackles, respectively.

TOTALS

Arkansas-Pine Bluff outgained TSU in total yards, 519-405
The Tigers produced 334 yards through the air and 71 on the ground
The defense surrendered 218 rushing yards and 301 yards passing
The Tigers averaged 5.6 yards per play.
TSU collected 23 first downs, opposed to 29 by UAPB
The Golden Lions won the Time of Possession battle, 31:21-28:39
The Tigers finished 3-of-3 in Red Zone Scoring Chances, while UAPB was 5-for-5
The Big Blue was tagged with six penalties for 62 yards
The defense produced seven tackles for loss, including one sack
The Tigers were 8-of-15 on third down conversions
TSU pulled down two interceptions, winning the turnover battle, 2-1
The Tigers blocked three extra points on the day

Individual Performances

Chris Rowland caught 13 passes for 154 yards and one touchdown.
The reception mark matched his career high and is tied for the most catches in a single game in program history.
Rowland finished the day with 185 all-purpose yards.
Steven Newbold added seven receptions for 91 yards and a score.
Newbold climbed the TSU record books, as he moved into ninth in career yards with 2,114.
The senior receiver surpassed Lawrence Segree (1992-95) who finished his career with 2, 102 yards.
Cameron Rosendahl finished the game going 27-of-42 for 334 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
Al-Malik Moore registered his first career touchdown reception on a 33 yard pass play in the third quarter.
Moore finished with three catches for 67 yards.
Te’kendrick Roberson led TSU with 65 yards on 16 carries.
DeMarco Corbin scored his third touchdown of the season with a two yard blast.
Larry Wilhoite intercepted two passes on the day, returning one for 52 yards.
Wilhoite recorded three stops and a pass breakup.
Terray Jones and Terry Straughter each had two tackles for loss.
Straughter finished with eight stops, while Jones made four.
Mike Boykin picked up his first sack as a Tiger.
Ronnie Killings led the Tigers with nine tackles.
Antonio Zita totaled seven points on the day with a 30 yard field goal and four extra points.
Zita missed just his second kick of the season, a 39 yard attempt.
Kaleb Mosley had six punts for 238 yards, averaging 39.7 yards per kick.
Mosley dropped two punts inside the 20 yard line, including one inside the five.
The sophomore punter has now booted a ball 50-plus yards in five consecutive games, registering his third longest in his career with a 56 yarder.
Al-Malik Haqq blocked two extra points, while Khalil Jones blocked one.
It is the second block of the season for Jones.

UAPB AT TENNESSEE STATE | SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

FIRST QUARTER

After a Tigers three and out, UAPB found themselves behind the sticks due to penalties.
Facing a third and 18, the Golden Lions kept their drive alive with a 19 yard pass play.
Four plays later, UAPB found the end zone to take an early 7-0 lead with 9:15 on the clock.
After another stop by the Golden Lions defense, the offense moved the field to the Tigers 24.
The Big Blue defense forced a fourth and eight and pressured UAPB into the first turnover of the contest.
Larry Wilhoite intercepted a pass at the five and returned the pick 52 yards to the Pine Bluff 43.
The Tigers took advantage of a personal foul after a 10 yards pass from Cameron Rosendahl to Chris Roland to move down to the opponents 13.
TSU went to the ground game with four consecutive rushes, ending in a two yard plunge by DeMarco Corbin, evening the score at 7-7 with 1:25 remaining in the quarter.
UAPB outgained the Tigers 179-44.

SECOND QUARTER

The Golden Lions needed just two plays to cap off a 76 yard drive, which began in the first quarter, to regain the lead with a 20 yard pass play.
Khalil Jones burst through the line to block the extra point to keep the score at 13-7.
The Tigers would enter the UAPB side of the field on their next two possessions, only to come up short.
On the first drive, Rosendahl found Steven Newbold down the right sideline for 36 yards before stalling inside Golden Lions territory.
Chris Rowland returned a punt 15 yards to the UAPB 40, but the drive ended on a 39 yard missed field goal attempt by Antonio Zita.
Pine Bluff added to its lead with a touchdown with 1:32 left before halftime.
Malik Abdul-Haqq blocked the extra point to make the score 19-7.
Rosendahl tried to move the Tigers down the field with a 14 yard completion to Rowland and a 13 yarder to Al-Malik Moore.
Rosendahl was picked off on the next play with 47 seconds on the clock.
The Tigers would get the ball back on the Golden Lions next play, as Wilhoite picked off his second pass of the day.
Rosendahl, starting at the TSU 49, quickly completed passes of 13 and nine yards to Rowland and Newbold, respectively.
Rosendahl and Rowland teamed up again, this time for 16 yards, moving down to the UAPB 13.
The Tigers had to settle for a 30 yard field goal by Zita as time expired, cutting the score to 19-10.
TSU outgained UAPB 117-15.

THIRD QUARTER

The Tigers defense produced a three and out to start the second half, giving the offense the ball at midfield.
The Big Blue needed just five plays to enter the end zone, as Rosendahl found Rowland across the middle for a 35 yard touchdown reception.
The defense produced another stop highlighted by a tackle behind the line of scrimmage by Terry Straughter and a sack by Mike Boykin.
The Tigers proceeded to move 89 yards on 10 plays for a touchdown to take a 24-19 lead.
Rosendahl went 5-for-5 on the drive for 74 yards, including a 33 yard scoring strike to Al-Malik Moore.
UAPB answered with its own scoring drive to take a 25-24 lead.
The Golden Lions attempt for was wiped out by the Tiger defense.
TSU outgained UAPB 128-77.

FOURTH QUARTER

The two teams traded drives to open the final stanza, ahead of a UAPB series which resulted in a touchdown after 10 plays and 85 yards.
The Tigers would start their final possession of regulation at their own 25 with 3:45 remaining in the game.
After a sack moved TSU back to the 19, Rosendahl led the offense back down the field, beginning with a 31 yard pass to Rowland.
The drive continued as the senior quarterback connected three times with Rowland and once to Newbold, moving down to the UAPB 16.
Four plays later, Rosendahl found Newbold in the end zone for a nine yard score.
The senior receiver made the diving catch, tapping both feet in bounds to secure the score.
TSU evened the score at 31-31 with the Zita point after touchdown with 50 seconds on the board.
UAPB moved down to the Tiger 17 with under 20 seconds to go.
The Big Blue defense forced a pair on incomplete passes leaving four seconds on the clock.
The Golden Lions would complete the game winning score on a 17 yard pass play as time expires for the 37-31 victory.
In the quarter, UAPB outgained TSU 148-116.

NOTES

Official start time was 2:09 p.m.
At the time of kickoff, the temperature on the field was 90 degrees and sunny.
Lachavious Simmons, Thomas Burton, Chris Rowland, Mekhi Brown and Cameron Rosendahl served as the captains for Tennessee State.
Larry Wilhoite catches his first interception of his career, returning it 52-yards.
DeMarco Corbin rushed for a 2-yard touchdown, the third of the season, ninth of his career.
Al-Malik Moore caught back-to-back passes for 54 yards In the third quarter – the second yielding the first touchdown catch of his career.
Chris Rowland moved into 8th in total career receptions with 132, passing Tyrone Butterfield (1997-98) with 131.
Steven Newbold stays at 10th in total career receptions with 129.
The Tigers blocked three extra points from Pine Bluff – two from Abdul-Haqq, one from Khalil Jones.
Arkansas Pine Bluff won the toss and deferred to second half.
This is the fifth meeting between Tennessee State and Arkansas Pine-Bluff.
Tennessee State leads 4-1 all-time versus UAPB.
Rod Reed is 2-1 versus UAPB.
The game was streamed on ESPN+.

WHAT’S NEXT:
The Tigers take to the road to open Ohio Valley Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 28. TSU will face Eastern Kentucky in Richmond at 5:00 p.m. CT / 6:00 p.m. ET.

QUOTES
Senior Offensive Guard Raekwon Allen
-On today’s play
“Today we had a few missed queues, we had a couple good things, but in the end it didn’t go our way. We’re ready to work for next week.”

-On the offense
“The offense is always going to find that drive, that spunk. Sometimes we might start slow, but we’ll always finish and that’s one good thing.”

-On protecting Cam and the offense as a whole
“Cam is an underrated guy. I’ve played with him. He’s always been the guy to do things right. We have the best receivers in the nation. We’ve got a lot of running backs with talent. We’re loaded with talent. I just feel like if we keep working, no one will be able to stop us.”

Junior Cornerback Domonique Williams
-On the game overall
“I just feel like we played a good game. We didn’t play the entire game. We didn’t execute all four quarters and that’s why we lost.”

-On the defensive effort
“The defense answered when we needed to, but we broke in the fourth and if you don’t execute in the fourth, you don’t win the game.”

-On mentality moving into next week
“We have to go 1-0 starting OVC play at Eastern Kentucky next week.”

Freshman Defensive Tackle Terray Jones
-On how his first game went
“Coach had talked to me throughout the week saying ‘My time is coming. Be ready.’ When I made the first tackle everything just came to me. It was my first tackle of the season. I knew from my get off that it was going to be my tackle. I got off the block, saw the running back and I knew it was my time and I had to make the play for my team.”

-On what the team is looking forward to next week
“Get better every day and try to compete for an OVC Championship.”