(Tallahassee, Fla.) – The Albany State Golden Rams (1-1) gave the Florida A&M Rattlers (1-2, 0-1 SWAC) all they could handle in the newly-renovated Bragg Memorial Stadium. With thousands of Golden Rams making the 80-mile trip to Tallahassee from Albany, the atmosphere was just right for the traditional SIAC rivals from decades past to reignite the rivalry on this day.
The Golden Rams opened the game with a stop and went right down the field and scored on a
Marcuis Fulks run, taking a 7-0 lead. From there, the defense dug in a grinded out against the FCS Division Rattlers.
Giardina was proud of how his team stepped up against the Rattlers and was impressed by the game atmosphere in Bragg Stadium. "What an environment first of all. It's a great place to play. The electric crowd was awesome. Just being out there from pregame til the end of the game was a really neat environment. We had a great start and got a stop and went down and scored and had it moving there for about six minutes then they did a good job of settling in and I think defensively, I was really proud of our defense. I thought the guys really tackled so much better than they did last week," Giardina said.
FAMU would rattle off 23 points to take control of the game, but the Golden Rams would not go down without a fight. With 20 seconds remaining in the game, ASU would power in another touchdown from Fulks for the 23-13 final.
ASU garnered 15 first downs and 299 yards of total offense. The Golden Rams had a balanced attack with 155 yards rushing and 144 yards passing. ASU averaged 4.9 yards per play. Quarterback
Dionte Bonneau took every snap in the game completing eight passes with a long of 41 yards to
Tyree Taylor.
Ralph Lovett II would haul in three passes for 41 yards. In all, five different receivers caught passes.
Kam Ward grinded out 89 yards to lead the ASU running backs. Fulks carried 17 times for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Golden Rams were again led by
Stephan Pierre who carded six tackles garnering one sack.
Jaree Turner also turned in six tackles for the night.
Brandarious Rawlings,
Deshazio Williams and
Jalen Pugh each turned in five tackles.
Giardina is ready to prepare for next week's opponent in Shorter University, which will be played in Rome, Ga. "We've got to bounce back quickly. Shorter is a good team, another Gulf South team, another team with 36 scholarships. We're just excited to get the opportunities to play every week and we've got to get healthy," he concluded.
