SAVANNAH, Ga. –The visiting Golden Rams of Albany State University suffered its first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) loss in a head-to-head battle against their oldest rival Savannah State.
The Tigers beat the Golden Rams 35-19 in front of 8,101 fans in Theodore A. Wright Stadium on Saturday.
The Tigers are now tied for first with Fort Valley State, both sporting 4-0 records, in the SIAC. For their final home game of the 2019 season, Albany State will host Morehouse College next Saturday they as celebrate senior day.
Albany State is the Tigers' oldest rival. They first played in 1932. Saturday was their 62nd meeting on the gridiron and a big one for both teams. Albany State came in with a perfect 4-0 conference record. SSU improved to 5-3 on the season as Albany State fall 5-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
The Tigers opened the day with a 9-play, 65-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown rush from
D'Angelo Durham. Durham led the field in offense on the day, racking up 150 net yards on 20 carries with three touchdowns.
On Albany State's second drive of the game, the Golden Rams—one of the top rushing offenses in the SIAC—moved the chains on nearly every down. The 5-play, 70-yard drive ended with a 5-yard touchdown rush from
McKinley Habersham.
The score held at 7-all through the first quarter. SSU opened the second quarter with a failed drive. After a 54-yard punt on fourth down, Albany State returned it 50-yards to the Tigers' 5-yard line. The Golden Rams did their best to pound in a touchdown, but the Tiger defense held firm, forcing them to kick a field goal.
Gabriel Ballina split the uprights on a 21-yard kick to give the visitors a 10-7 lead with 12:41 on the clock.
SSU's offense sputtered through the second quarter. On their third possession of the quarter Albany State finished a huge 7-play, 47-yard drive with another field goal from Bellina as the Tiger defense again held them out of the end zone.
Savannah State took possession of the ball with 2:21 to play until the half, trailing 7-13. The Tiger offense went to work as Durham, Major Bellamy and Jamurion Hartage took to the ground, moving the chains and controlling the clock.
With 18 seconds until the half, Durham pounded in an 18-yard touchdown rush.
Giovanni Lugo tacked on the extra point to give SSU a 14-13 lead as the Tigers snuffed out all of Albany State's momentum into the locker room.
The final two quarters were all SSU as the Albany State offense sputtered against a Tiger defense that would not quit. On their first possession of the second half, Durham broke free for a season-high 62-yard touchdown rush, finishing off a 3-play, 71-yard drive in the end zone.
After the Golden Rams failed to get into the end zone yet again, SSU responded on their next possession with yet another scoring drive. Savannah State added another touchdown on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 4:14 to play in the quarter.
Albany State got some momentum back in the fourth quarter, finishing their first drive with a 21-yard touchdown rush from
Tracy Scott to cut SSU's lead to 19-28 with 5:18 to play.
But it was the powerful Savannah State defense that put the exclamation on the win moments later
. The Tigers recovered a fumbled and took it 45-yards the other way lifting the Tigers to the winning 35-19 score. It was the 8th touchdown for the Savannah State defense this season.
Coemba Jones had a stellar outing on the day racking up nine tackles.
Brendan Kimble finished the contest with eight tackles.
SSU won out the ground game, racking up 272 net rushing yards to Albany State's 229. They had 283 yards gained in rushing and earned 51 net passing yards for a total of 323 offensive yards.
