Abilene Christian Wildcats

Freshman QB leads Southern past D-II Fort Valley St., 31-14 (Sep 30, 2017)

Published Sep. 30, 2017 11:56 p.m. ET

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Danny Johnson returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown to spark Southern to a 31-14 win over Division II Fort Valley State in a nonconference game Saturday night.

Herbert Edwards carried 19 times for 141 yards to lead the Southern offense.

Senior quarterback Austin Howard had a touchdown pass in the first quarter, hitting Jarmarqueza Mims from 7-yards out, but watched the second half from the Southern sideline after aggravating a knee injury. Leading rusher Devon Benn also left the game in the first quarter and did not return.

Freshman John Lampley came on and completed 6 of 10 passes for 52 yards and carried six times for another 51 yards for Southern (2-3).

Fort Valley State got on the board when Lorenzo Smothers returned a Southern punt 42 yards for a touchdown. Myles Graham gained 116 yards on 11 carries to lead the Wildcats.

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