Grambling State upsets Jackson State in Las Vegas HBCU Classic — PHOTOS
Down to its backup quarterback and a kicker whose erratic leg is rarely called upon for field goals, Grambling State miraculously upset No. 11 Jackson State 26-24 Saturday in the inaugural Las Vegas HBCU Classic at Allegiant Stadium.
The hero was Josh McCormick, who banged a 44-yard field goal through the goal posts with 21 seconds left to play to complete a last-gasp rally for Grambling State, which had given up two straight fourth-quarter touchdowns to fall behind 24-23 to its SWAC rivals.
Much of the credit goes to backup quarterback Amyne Darensburg, who came off the bench in the middle of the final drive to replace starter C’Zavian Teasett, who went down with a serious injury with 1:55 left in the game.
Teasett was injured while getting tackled on a 9-yard run. He lay motionless on his stomach as trainers and medical staff raced onto the field to tend to him. An ambulance was summoned to the field to transport him to the hospital. As he was loaded into the ambulance, the entire Grambling State team circled him.
At the time of his injury, Teasett had completed 16 of 26 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns.
A teary-eyed Grambling State coach, Mickey Joseph, did not have an update on the condition of his quarterback.
“We want to send prayers to Zay and his family,” Joseph said. “When you lose kids like this … he’s ours. He’s mine. And we lose him to an injury like this, it hurts you.”
With that as the backdrop, on came Darensburg, who took mostly mental reps this week in practice. Somehow, he mustered a 12-yard run on a fourth-and-9, then threw 11 yards on a third-and-12 to put Grambling State (5-3, 2-2) in position for McCormick’s winning field goal.
That is when Joseph turned to McCormick, a big-legged but not very accurate kicker, and told him to go kick the winner. McCormick typically only handles kickoffs because of his erratic leg.
“He doesn’t have a finesse leg,” Joseph said. “He’s like a golfer, he just booms it.”
But he also has something essential going for him, according to Joseph.
“If you know Josh, you know he’s not gonna blink,” Joseph said. “Nothing really bothers him.”
Weighing heavily on McCormick’s mind was his teammate.
“It was definitely tough seeing Teasett go down, but on the sideline we all said prayers and realized we were playing the game for something bigger than it was,” McCormick said. “For him, his mother, who was also on the field.”
Understanding the assignment calmed McCormick’s nerves.
“I was pretty confident,” McCormick said. “We have a really good long snapper and holder, so they just needed to get the snap down and the hold down and I felt comfortable putting it through the goal posts.”
He did exactly that.
The win could come at a potentially major cost for Jackson State (5-2, 3-1), as quarterback Jacobian Morgan was lost in the first quarter to a lower leg injury and did not return. Parker Stofa initially replaced Morgan, but was eventually replaced by Lockhart late in the third quarter.
Morgan was injured at some point in the opening quarter after running in from 7 yards to give Jackson State a 7-0 lead. On the play before the touchdown, Morgan connected with Nate Rembert for 43 yards.
His loss was felt for most of the next two quarters, with Teasett guiding Grambling State on a 23-0 run to take a 23-10 lead. On the run, Teasett had touchdown throws of 59 and 26 yards and also ran for a 16-yard touchdown.
Jackson State rallied behind backup quarterback Jared Lockhart to overcome Grambling State’s advantage, throwing a 62-yard touchdown pass to Rembert and running for a 1-yard score to put Grambling State up 24-23 with 2:15 remaining.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.
