Cooper rallies Jacksonville State past Tennessee St., 31-23

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Zerrick Cooper threw three touchdown passes and Jacksonville State rallied to beat Tennessee State, 31-23 in an Ohio Valley Conference contest Saturday night.

The Gamecocks (4-2, 1-1) staked Tennessee State to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.

Chris Rowland ran 48 yards for the opening touchdown less than two minutes into the game and his brother, Seth Rowland, followed him into the end zone minutes later from 27 yards out. Antonio Zita kicked a 19-yard field goal with 4:27 left in the first period to extend the lead and added field goals from 29 and 34 yards to complete the Tigers scoring.

Cooper hit Pearson from 20-yards out to cut the Tennessee State lead to a touchdown, and after Zita's second field goal, hit K.J. Stepherson from 42 yards out to make it a 20-17 game at intermission. Cooper found Pearson again with 2:43 left in the third quarter to put the Gamecocks on top, 24-23. Michael Matthews put the game away with a 10-yard scoring run with 7:18 left in the game.

Cooper was 25 of 39 passing for 305 yards and Pearson had seven catches for 87 yards.

Cameron Rosendahl was 14 of 24 f or 240 yards for Tennessee State (1-5, 0-2).

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