G.J. Kinne (5) prepares to throw the ball during the first quarter.

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Golden Hurricane Edged By Golden Eagles After Lightning Delay, 44-34

Clay finishes with four touchdowns in loss to Southern Miss.

Nov. 21, 2009

Final Stats |  Notes

HATTIESBURG, Miss.-Southern Miss kept its hopes alive of winning a Conference USA West Division title with a 44-34 victory over Tulsa on Saturday night in front of 28,757 fans at Roberts Stadium. USM improved to 7-4 and 5-2 in league action, while the Hurricane dropped to 4-7 overall, 2-5 in C-USA play and lost any opportunity of making a fifth straight bowl game appearance

Before the end of the game, there was a 50-minute weather delay that began at 9:31 pm (CT) and with 13:50 remaining on the game clock. The game re-started at 10:21 pm.

Following the 50-minute layoff, Tulsa marched to the USM one-yard line, but a G.J. Kinne pass was intercepted after he was chased nearly 15 yards in the backfield. Tulsa forced USM to punt and then took the ball again down the field to the USM 15-yard line, but failed on a fourth down-and-10 pass.

After holding the Eagles again, Tulsa went 75 yards in four plays and 0:56 as Kinne threw the final six yards to Charles Clay for the touchdown, but the two-point conversion failed, making the score 44-34. It was Clay's fourth touchdown of the game, two receiving and two rushing.

For the game, Damaris Johnson had another 200+ all-purpose yard game and his sixth 100+ receiving game of the season with 196 yards on 17 receptions. Clay had 142 receiving yards and two TDs, and 20 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Tulsa had 589 yards of total offense, while USM had 439 yards.

The Golden Eagles were led by quarterback Martevious Young, who completed 12 passes for 276 yards and four TDs, while Damion Fletcher rushed for 88 yards on 22 carries, and DeAndre Brown caught three passes for 135 yards and two TDs.

USM outscored Tulsa in the second half, 10-6, while putting up 217 yards after halftime. Tulsa gained 275 second-half yards.

In the second half, Southern Miss scored on a 95-yard pass play with 8:00 left in the third quarter to take a 13-point lead, 41-28, The pass capped a two-play, 93-yard drive in just 1:00, USM's fourth drive to take less than 1:35 off the clock. The Golden Eagles added a 25-yard field goal to close out the third quarter scoring at 0:23, while taking a 44-28 lead.

After forcing a punt on Tulsa's first possession of the game, USM took just one play to score the first points of the game on a 60-yard pass from Young to Johdrick Morris but the PAT was missed, giving the Golden Eagles a 6-0 lead at the 11:39 mark of the first quarter.

The Hurricane responded on its second possession of the game with an 11-play, 70-yard drive, that took 4:18 off the clock as Charles Clay ran in from two yards out for the score, and Kevin Fitzpatrick connected on the PAT to give Tulsa a 7-6 lead with 7:14 on the clock in the first period.

Tulsa took its' next possession 94 yards in 5:22 as G.J. Kinne threw the final three yards to Clay for the second Hurricane touchdown of the game, both scored by Clay.

Young passed the final 12 yards to Tracy Lampley on the subsequent possession to cap a 56-yard, 5-play drive, taking just 1:31 off the clock to bring the score to Tulsa 14, USM 13.

A forced fumble on a Kinne sack was returned by Ronnie Thornton 42 yards for a touchdown and a 20-14 USM lead at the 11:59 mark of the third quarter. It took Tulsa only 0:53 to take the lead back, 21-20, as G.J. Kinne went 55 yards on the second play of the drive for the Hurricane score.

On a fourth-and-four from the 38-yard line, USM converted the first down and on the next play Young threw the final 34 yards to DeAndre Brown for a 27-21 lead with 8:23 left in the first half, capping a 58-yard, seven-play drive.

The Hurricane went 75 yards in a season-long 16 plays to take a 28-27 lead at the xxx mark of the second quarter as Clay jumped over the goal line for the one-ayrd TD. However, on USM's subsequent drive the Eagles took the lead back just before halftime on a Tory Harrison one-yard run with 0:34 left before intermission, capping a nine-play, 63-yard drive in 1:01.

USM held a 34-28 halftime lead, scoring its 34 points in just 6:56 of possession time and totaling 222 yards. Tulsa, on the other hand, had the ball 23:04 minutes and gained 314 yards for its 28 points.

 

Scoring Summary
1st  Quarter
USM (11:39) - Martevious Young 60 pass to Johdrick Morris (kick failed)	0-6
Tulsa (7:14) - Charles Clay 2 run (Fitzpatrick PAT)	                7-6
Tulsa (0:25) - G.J. Kinne 3 pass to Charles Clay (Fitzpatrick PAT)	14-6
2nd Quarter
USM (13:48) - Martevious Young 12 pass to Tracy Lampley (Hrapmann PAT)	14-13
USM (11:59) - Ronnie Thornton 42 fumble return (Hrapmann PAT)	        14-20
Tulsa (11:00) - G.J. Kinne 55 run (Fitzpatrick PAT)	                21-20
USM (8:23) - Martevious Young 34 pass to DeAndre Brown (Hrapmann PAT)	21-27
Tulsa (1:39) - Clay 1 run (Fitzpatrick kick)	                        28-27
USM (0:34) - Tory Harrison 1 run (Hrapmann PAT)	                        28-34
3rd Quarter
USM (8:00) - Martevious Young 95 pass to DeAndre Brown (Hrapmann PAT)	28-41
USM (0:23) - Daniel Hrapmann 25 FG	                                28-44
4th Quarter
Tulsa (2:10) - G.J. Kinne 6 pass to Charles Clay (pass failed)		34-44