The excruciating wait continues for Mississippi Valley State.
In the third straight close call, the Delta Devils saw their losing streak hit 16 games as Karl Morgan still seeks his first victory in his second year as head coach.
Valley fell to 0-5 on the season, 0-4 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 28-21 loss to Southern University here Saturday at Rice-Totten Stadium.
"It gets tougher with each loss because it gets harder and harder to re-energize our guys, but at the same time, you feel good because you see that we are making progress, getting closer and closer to that elusive win," said Morgan, who is 0-15 at MVSU.
It was the 18th straight conference loss for Valley dating back to 2009. However, it was the smallest margin of defeat during that skid since a 17-12 loss to Alabama A&M on Nov. 21, 2009.
Valley trailed 21-14 at the half after committing four turnovers, three of them interceptions by backup quarterback Paul Pittman, who was playing in place of injured starter Garrick Jones (high ankle sprain).
Valley tied the game at 21 with 14:16 left in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Rapheal Bateaste. The nine-play, 83-yard drive was keyed by a 67-yard scamper by Pittman, who finished with 73 of his team's 262 rushing yards.
But Southern came right back with a nine-play, 94-yard touchdown drive that took just three minutes, thanks to a 58-yard touchdown pass from quarterback J.P. Douglas to LaQuinton Evans.
On a third-and-1, Evans hauled in a short pass on a hitch route, broke away from a pair of Valley defenders and sprinted down the Delta Devil sideline for the eventual game-winning score.
"Again, we played pretty well on defense but just gave up a couple of big plays in the passing game that really hurt us," Morgan said.
Playing without Jones made it easier for the Jaguars (2-3, 2-2) to take the Delta Devils' top offensive weapon out of the game. Senior wide receiver Paul Cox, a 6-foot-5, 205-pounder, came in ranked second in the SWAC in receiving yards (323), third in yards per catch (17.9) and sixth in receptions (18).
But Cox was a non-factor against the Jaguars' aggressive man-to-man defense as he was held to just three catches for 28 yards.
Moving from the zone coverage Southern used mostly in the first four games to man-to-man, senior Demetric Rogers said he and his fellow defensive backs were determined not to left Cox beat them.
"We knew they like to go vertical with him and throw up jump balls. I talked with the defensive coaches this week about going man against them, and they gave us a chance," Rogers said. "We knew we had to answer the challenge. We don't like to play zone because we're a pretty good secondary.
"It's our job to lock up receivers, and we did that today."
The Jags kept constant pressure on Pittman as he struggled to do anything in the passing game. He completed 8 of 25 passes for 62 yards and had three interceptions and was sacked three times.
"Garrick gives us the best chance to win, but the doctor suggested he rest his ankle this week. Pittman did some good things, but he also did some bad things," Morgan said. "They put pressure on him, and we couldn't get the ball to Cox. We thought we could make some plays with him against the man coverage, but they did a good job on him."
On the bright side, MVSU had its best game running the ball in Morgan's one and a half seasons at the helm, churning out 230 yards on 37 attempts. Bateaste led the way with 86 yards on 17 carries, and Brandon Stansell added 68 yards on 13 rushes.
In the first half, Valley got touchdowns from Pittman (5-yard run) and defensive back Michael Boykins (34-yard interception return).
n Contact Bill Burrus at bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
