TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Richardson threw three of his five touchdown passes in the first half and Florida A&M took a 28-0 lead to start the second and the Rattlers rolled to a 52-28 win over Texas Southern Saturday to remain in the hunt for a Southwestern Athletic Conference title.
Florida A&M (5-3) is 3-1 in SWAC play, trailing Jackson State (5-0) and Alabama State (4-1) with three games left.
Richard hit Quan Lee from a yard out to open scoring midway through the first quarter then threw 6 yards to Koby Gross and 17 to Jeremiah Pruitte to make it 21-0 at halftime. He hit Kelvin Dean with a 10-yard pass to open the second half to take a 28-0 lead.
Jace Wilson hit Donald McKinney for back-to-back touchdowns to halve the Rattlers' lead, but Robert Lockhart took the Texas Southern kickoff 91 yards to make it 35-14. Chaunzavia Lewis took the following kickoff back 90 yards seconds later to make it 35-21. Richardson's fifth TD pass of the day, a 22-yard strike to Jaylen Ward, made it 42-21.
Richardson completed 25 of 33 passes for 267 yards with two interceptions. Pruitte and Ward each ran for 60 yards. The Rattlers ground game amassed 236 yards on 36 carries.
Wilson completed 5 of his 13 pass attempts with an interception for 53 yards while the ground game totaled 111 yards on 34 carries.
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