Skip to main content

The Student Printz October 19, 2022 | Volume 108 Issue 8

Page 1

SERVING SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI SINCE 1927 • WWW.STUDENTPRINTZ.COM • OCTOBER 19, 2022 | VOLUME 107 | ISSUE 8

AUTHOR TALKS DEBUT NOVEL PG 3

CHURCH OF JACKSON PG 4

Putter of Steel PG 7

Jake Lange leads Southern Miss rally for 20-19 homecoming win against Arkansas State

DIMA MIXON PRINTZ REPORTER

S

outhern Miss needed to pull something out of its back pocket to pull off a stunning comeback against Arkansas State, and Head Coach Will Hall and company did just that. Hall put walk-on quarterback Jake Lange in at the end of the third quarter because it “put them in the best position to win the game.” Lange delivered, and Hall’s decision-making at coaching fueled a 13-0 fourth quarter to lead the Golden Eagles to its first homecoming win since 2019 and the largest comeback win since the road match against Kentucky in 2016. “Since I’ve gotten here, I’ve talked a lot about how we are doing things the right way, how we are building this program back the right way. I’ve talked about how we are doing good things nobody sees. One day we are going to start winning game too [but] right now we just aren’t a complete team,” Hall said. “I know it’s not pretty. I’m going to be honest with you that it may not be pretty for a while around here.” Hall also added that it was the fight of the Golden Eagles that led the squad to victory. “I saw a group of kids that battled all week. I saw a group of kids that saw things not go in their way for three quarters, but they kept battling,” Hall said. Arkansas State opened the game with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Starting quarterback James Blackman found wide receiver Jeff Foreman for a 28-yard touchdown pass to go

Quarterbacks Jake Lange and Zach Wilcke walk off the field after the game. Lange replaced Wilcke in the second half and led the comeback.

up 7-0 early. “I never felt like [our defense] wasn’t working. He was completing passes but they weren’t scoring. We completed a lot of passes last week, but we didn’t score. I thought our defense was working and I thought we really got some good hits on him,” Hall said. Southern Miss’s offense sputtered to get any momentum in the first half. On Southern Miss’s first drive, starting quarterback Zach Wilcke tried to squeeze a ball into Jason Brownlee, but Kenneth Harris intercepted the pass, and Arkansas State got the ball right back. That would be the first of two interceptions by Wilcke in the first half.

However, defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong’s defense came to play as they have, forcing Arkansas State to a quick three and out. Southern Miss could not get anything offensively and had two straight punting series. Arkansas State added a field goal to go up 10-0 before Southern Miss got on the board. Wilcke led the offense on the best drive of the night, up to that point, with six plays for 75 yards, capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass to Brownlee that brought the score to 10-7 at the half. Southern Miss led in yardage at halftime and had almost 100 more rushing yards than Arkansas State; however, they had two

Sean Smith | SM2

turnovers to none by the Red Wolves. Arkansas State forced Southern Miss in a three-and-out to start the second half and followed that with a ten-play, 79-yard touchdown drive where Blackman found Foreman again for a nine-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 17-7. After another drive led by Wilcke, Hall decided to go with Lange. “I thought it gave us the best chance to win the game. Zach is a talented, really good player. He has turned the ball over a lot here recently. I thought he was a

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
The Student Printz October 19, 2022 | Volume 108 Issue 8 by The Student Printz - Issuu