Banged up but not beaten

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 1, 2009

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PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Yet again, the list of injuries to Southern’s defense grew.

This time, the Jaguars survived.

Saturday afternoon at Golden Lion Stadium, Southern’s defense — already sore and beaten up from two months of football, not to mention and a run of bad luck — forced three turnovers and held Arkansas-Pine Bluff to 330 yards in a 24-10 victory.

All the while, players kept staggering to the bench. More lumps. More bruises. More injuries.

Even before Saturday’s game, defensive coordinator Terrence Graves had made a series of patch jobs on the fly. He either shifted linemen and linebackers out of their natural positions or sent backups into action for their first significant playing time.

Then the Jaguars got off the bus in Arkansas.

“Graves told us before the game that every time we come to Pine Bluff, it’s going to be a standoff game, a dogfight. He said, ‘Somebody’s going to have an injury, so you’re just one play away from getting in,’ ” said linebacker Andre Coleman, who came off the bench to lead the team with 10 tackles.

“Every time they get to the sideline, you start checking on people, see what they can do and just tell them, ‘Hey, stay stingy. Don’t give them anything.’ ”

That wasn’t easy.

Just before halftime, linebacker Corey Ray collapsed to the ground in pain. He never returned, and during the second half, Ray walked the sidelines with his right arm in a sling.

During the third quarter, cornerback Jeremy Ivory — making his third career start — tackled a ball carrier, then sprinted toward the sidelines and immediately sat on a bench, where he pointed to his right shoulder.

Two minutes later, strong safety Demetric Rogers stumbled to the sidelines, doubled over in pain (he returned to action in the fourth quarter).

What’s more, the Jaguars traveled to Pine Bluff with just three healthy defensive tackles — junior Jordan Miller and freshmen Casey Narcisse and Brandon Turner.