By T. Scott Boatright
SHREVEPORT — There’s no signal-calling controversy in Grambling.
Quarterius Hawkins is the top Tiger, no questions asked. And Maurice Washington is just plain offensive.
Hawkins threw for 292 yards and three scores in the first half while Nebraska-transfer Washington sparked the G-Man fireworks show by igniting for 95 yards on five carries and touchdown runs of 61 and 25 yards in the first quarter alone.
Grambling State gave head coach Hue Jackson his first collegiate coaching victory with a 47-21 win in the Shreveport Classic over Northwestern State on Saturday night at Independence Bowl Stadium.
“Happy we won,” said Jackson. “I thought our guys took a step (forward) from last week. So I am excited about that I just told them. But I’m still disappointed in a lot. We have some work to do. I think they understand that to a man.”
Hawkins did a bulk of his damage in the second stanza, firing touchdown passes of 83 yards, 20 yards and 71 yards.
But it didn’t start with Black and Gold fireworks. Grambling State’s opening drive stalled as the G-Men were forced to punt, with Northwestern State responding with a 86-yard, 11-play drive as Miles Fallin connected with Zach Patterson for a 13-yard touchdown strike as the Demons took an early 7-0 lead with 9:40 remaining in the opening quarter.
And the Demons nearly burned the G-Men, driving to the Grambling 25-yard line before Donald Lee’s end zone interception turned the ball back over to the Tigers.
Then the Tigers roared to life, fueled by Hawkins’ arm.
First Washington hurdled an attempted tackle before streaking 61 yards to paydirt to cut the Demons’ advantage to 7-6 after Garrett Urban’s PAT was blocked with 5:33 remaining in the first quarter.
But that was OK. The Tigers were only starting to earn their stripes.
After shutting down the Demons on a three-and-out offensive series, GSU marched 55 yards on a 10-play drive with Washington capping things with a 25-yard scoring scamper.
Hawkins hit Lynron Rash for the two-point conversion as GSU took a 14-7 lead with 28 seconds left in the quarter.
The Grambling onslaught was only beginning.
Chance Williams stretched the GSU lead to 21-17 with 12:13 remaining before intermission as he plunged one-yard to paydirt after Grambling’s Keving Thomas picked off a NSU pass and returned it to the Demons’ two-yard line.
After forcing a NSU punt, Grambling State (1-1) made quick work of lighting up the scoreboard again, with Rash hauling in an 83-yard scoring strike to extend its lead to 28-7 with 9:50 left in the first half.
By halftime, the Tigers had roared to a 41-7 advantage.
“That was called a step,” said Jackson. “I expect more. We got to keep growing. We got to keep learning.”
Hawkins fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Claude Coleman at the 3:35 mark of the second quarter before lofting a 71-yard scoring strike to JR Waters that gave GSU that 34-point halftime cushion.
The Demons cut GSU’s lead to 41-14 with 10:42 left in the third quarter, but the Tigers responded with a 63-yard fumble recovery for a score forced off a sack by Bryan Powell.
After scoring only three points in a season-opening loss at Arkansas State, GSU’s offense was anything but anemic against NSU, finishing with 435 total yards and 12 first downs.
“I am happy about the win,” said Jackson. “Happy to win a classic. Happy to play here in Shreveport in front of our fans. Our fans were terrific. I’m glad they showed up. They showed out and that was terrific. But at the same time I know we have a lot of work to do.”
Hawkins connected on 13-of-23 pass attempts for 293 yards and three touchdowns while Washington added 95 rushing yards on only five carries — scoring a pair of touchdowns and averaging 19 yards per run.
Rash topped GSU with 92 receiving yards while Waters added 90 yards on four catches.
Grambling State now leads the all-time series over the Demons 4-2.
Next up for the G-Men is what will be considered a non-conference game at Jackson State, with a kickoff set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in a game that will be streamed live on ESPNU.
