Howard Wins Heritage Bowl With Strong Second-Half Showing

Jason Decuir kicked the tie-breaking field goal and Curtis Jones made a game-saving interception at the goal line with 42 seconds remaining Tuesday to give Howard a 27-24 Heritage Bowl victory over Southern.

Howard trailed 24-10 at halftime. But the Bison defense held Southern scoreless in the final half as Howard (10-2) capped its best season since 1993.

Southern (7-5) lost its first Heritage Bowl in three trips.

Decuir’s tie breaking, 18-yard field goal snapped a 24-24 tie with 3:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. Howard had advanced to a first down on Southern’s 2-yard line, but the Jaguar defense stopped three touchdown attempts.

Southern then drove into scoring position on a halfback pass from Jermaine Brown to quarterback Marcus Jacoby at the Howard 15.

Jacoby then took two shots at the end zone. His first pass was caught out of bounds by Jerry Guye, and his throw to the left corner on the next play was intercepted by Jones.

Howard tied the score 24-24 early in the fourth period when MacArthur Johnson scored on an 81-yard pass from quarterback Ted White.

White completed 23 of 39 passes for 328 yards.

Jacoby completed 16 of 24 passes for 200 yards and threw four interceptions in the second half.