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26 fb at hof
27
Winner Johnson C. Smith JCS 1-1 , 0-0
7
Albany St. (GA) ASU 0-2 , 0-0
Winner
Johnson C. Smith JCS
1-1 , 0-0
27
Final
7
Albany St. (GA) ASU
0-2 , 0-0
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
JCS Johnson C. Smith 3 17 7 0 27
ASU Albany St. (GA) 0 0 0 7 7

Game Recap: Football | | Chris Myers

Golden Bulls Prevail over Golden Rams in Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic

CANTON, Ohio – On a national stage and where top honors to past greats were made, the main event didn't go as planned for the defending Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion. After an encouraging opening three offensive plays and deep drive into enemy territory on the second possession, Albany State saw Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Johnson C. Smith take advantage with an early field and then a 17-points second quarter on the way to a 27-7 final of the 7th Annual Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic on Sunday afternoon.
 
Following an incredible behind-the defender one-handed grab by wide receiver Duke Timmons covering 22 yards on the third offensive play of the game, the Golden Bulls (1-1) knocked the football from the Golden Rams' quarterback on a 12-yard scramble on the third offensive play of the game and turned it into a field goal. ASU (0-2) continued its early offensive success driving to the JCSU 16-yardline on the second drive, but it came up short on 4th down. The Ram defense held tough early by forcing a punt and a second field goal before the Bulls put together two long scoring drives for separation.
 
Off the bench starting the final quarter, Xavier Irizarry engineered the best drive of the day for the Ram attack. The sophomore signal-caller drove ASU the final 48 yards of the scoring drive. On 4th-and-5, Irizarry found Jaquan Graham cutting across the field in the left corner of the endzone for the 23-yard touchdown with 11:31 in the game.  The ASU forced a JCSU punt the following possession, but the Ram offense threw back-to-back interceptions ending any late comeback attempt.
 
"I give credit to JCSU for making the switch at quarterback. They were able to do some things on offense that they did not do last week on film," pointed out ASU Head Coach David Bowser. "We have to be able to sustain offensive drives and come away with points. We are close to breaking open plays. Just have to be able to finish."
 
The two ASU opening possessions accounted for 86 yards (on 15 plays) of the team's 227 for the day. The Ram scoring drive of 70 yards made it 156 yards to combine with the first two times with the ball of the total. ASU threw for 148 yards on 12 of 32 attempts and three interceptions, while rushing for 79 yards on 27 carries.
 
Graham narrowly misses reaching the 100-yard mark receiving with four grabs for 95 yards, including the 23-yard scoring strike. Duke Timmons added two catches for 28 yards and Cardrece Mobley 20 yards on three balls. Jayden Threatts paced the ground attack with 43 yards on eight totes with Roderick McCrary gaining 19 yards on four carries.
 
In his first action since guiding the Ram offense in the Region 4 final against Newberry, Irizarry threw for 51 yards on 2 of 7 passing with the touchdown and two pick offs in the fourth quarter. Jeffrey Davis started and passed for 79 yards on 6 of 9 attempts and Vinson Berry completed 4 of 16 passes for 28 yards and one interception.
 
Defensively, Ian Rembert posted five solo tackles and seven overall. Derrick Drayton added six stops with one for a loss. Rontravion Scott and Cam Watts both chipped in six tackles and a pass breakup. Linebacker Caleb Anderson forced a fumble and had two tackles.
 
The Golden Bulls made an unannounced switch at quarterback as Damien Mazil put together a solid outing instead of Parker McQuarrie, who led the offense at Benedict College in the opener. Mazil hit 12 of his 18 passes for 184 yards, but it was his main backfield runner and former Allen University transfer Fabian Duncan who made the difference. Duncan carried the ball 21 times for 144 yards and scoring runs of four and two yards before a 40-yarder in the first drive of the second half.
 
Duncan and Mazil helped JCSU have a balanced offense with 185 rushing and 184 passing for 369 yards on 64 plays. The unit also won time of possession by over seven minutes, 33:51 to 26:09.
 
Following the first JCSU field goal, ASU went back to work on offense and took the ball down to the opposing 16-yard line when Davis hit Mobley for seven yards. Davis scrambled nine yards on 4th-and-5 down to the seven-yard line only to have an offensive lineman called for holding. Davis could not find an open target on 4th-and-15 and ran for two yards before running out of room. It would be the last ASU trip to the JCSU red zone until the 4th quarter touchdown.
 
Leading 20-0 at intermission, the Albany State University Marching Rams Show Band won the halftime band battle in easy fashion.
 
The Bulls, though, to the opening third-quarter possession 82 yards with 40 of them coming on the Duncan scoring run.
 
Drayton made a 4th-and-2 drive-ending tackle to end the next JCSU drive and Anderson forced a fumble in the end zone to prevent more points on the scoreboard.
 
Taking over the middle of the drive, Irizarry miss fired on his first two passes only to find Graham with the lone touchdown strike on his third for a 27-7 score with 11:31 remaining.
 
After the longest road trip of the season, the Rams will have its shortest week to rebound. ASU travels east across Georgia where the 'real season' starts in the SIAC opener in the renewing of the rivalry against Savannah State in a 6 p.m. evening tilt next Saturday, Sept. 12.


 
 

 
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