SU’s Stewart finishes strong despite injury

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Dec 1, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Lost in the commotion of Southern’s 29-14 loss to Grambling in the Bayou Classic was a sterling performance by wide receiver Juamorris Stewart.

He finished with 174 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions — a fitting end to a fine season for Stewart, a junior from Istrouma.

Stewart, of course, re-aggravated an injury to his right hand during the first quarter, and in the second half, Grambling began to “bracket” him in coverage, defending against him near the line of scrimmage and over the top.

“He’s an outstanding receiver, and he’s also banged up,” SU coach Pete Richardson said. “We had a lot of injured people trying to play. I just attribute that to what Grambling did. They made some things happen.”

Still, Stewart’s big afternoon put him over the 1,000-yard barrier this year; in 11 games, he had 76 catches for 1,138 yards and 12 touchdowns.

It was easily the best season for an SU wide receiver since Michael Hayes hammered opponents in 2000, setting single-season school records with 90 receptions for 1,328 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Since then, only three receivers had broken the 800-yard barrier. They were Michael Hayes (873 yards in 2002), Chris Davis (897 yards in 2003) and Alfred Ard (863 yards in 2003).

Yeah, it was good. But he and the Jaguars fell short of their ultimate goal — winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

“I mean, we have to work harder,” Stewart said. “I look at it that way. We’ve just got to come back and work harder.”

Fake punt doesn’t work

Southern regularly works on so-called “plays” during practice.