HOUSTON — Saturday night’s lopsided loss for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff was a shocker, especially so soon after a big win.
UAPB lost 51-7 to Texas Southern at Husky Stadium in Houston, ending its two-game winning streak.
After the game, UAPB (2-3, 1-1 SWAC) Coach Alonzo Hampton shut down any talk that this performance was the result of the team still riding high off last week’s thrilling win against Alcorn State in the Southern Heritage Classic.
“I’m not going to say it was a hangover, because it wasn’t,” Hampton said. “We had a really good week of practice. They came out here, and they jumped on us early when we missed those two field goals and botched that kickoff return. I think that kind of shell-shocked us all.”
Hampton referred to a muffed kickoff in the second quarter after the first Texas Southern (2-3, 2-1) touchdown, which set the Tigers up on a short field and allowed them to quickly make it 17-0.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
He also referred to kicker Trey Glymph missing field goals of 40 and 44 yards. They were Glymph’s first career misses after he made all seven of his field goal attempts last year and his first two this season, though either would have been a new career long for the senior team captain.
Starting quarterback Christian Peters finished with a season-low 125 yards one week after throwing for a season-high 323 yards.
D’Avery Robinson finished as the team’s leading receiver with 35 yards after four Golden Lions had more receiving yards than that last week. Kareem Burke, who led the team with 102 receiving yards against Alcorn, finished with one catch for a season-low 17 yards against the Tigers.
Texas Southern rushed for a season-high 350 yards, having not previously rushed for more than 145 in a game this season, renewing concerns about UAPB’s run defense after the Golden Lions held strong in the second half last week.
“To have a game like we had against Alcorn, and then to come out here, you could have never told me that this would happen,” Hampton said. “But again, that’s part of growing as a program, learning how to put the wins together, continue to work and do all those little things. Everybody has to be locked in.”
One possible bright spot for the Golden Lions was true freshman Bryant Sanchez. The New Orleans native led UAPB in rushing Saturday with a season-high 73 yards. He previously rushed for 52 yards against Lincoln (Calif.) and 16 against Alcorn State.
With preseason All-SWAC second team running back BJ Curry missing his fifth-straight game with injury and No. 2 running back Za’Marion Webber out with a torn ACL, UAPB needs its depth at running back to show up. Junior running back Jaylen Jennings, who has started the past two games with Curry and Webber out, finished with 44 yards Saturday.
“I’m excited for (Sanchez), but we probably should have ran Jaylen a little bit more,” Hampton said. “You got two capable running backs. Bryant Sanchez is a speedster, does really good things, and Jaylen Jennings does a good job.”
A UAPB spokesperson told the Commercial that the Golden Lions expect Curry to return next week for the homecoming game against Westgate Christian, though he will receive limited snaps.
A few other players went down with injury throughout the course of the game, including starting cornerback Zach Williams, starting center Frank Bean and starting linebacker Mohammed Kelleh.
Hampton said none of the injuries were serious and some of those players could have returned, but UAPB elected to hold them out given the score and let others get playing time.