Albany State makes strides against Miles

ALBANY —If the Albany State Rams hope to get to the SIAC title game, they’ll have to take it one game at a time. They took a step in the right directions Saturday night, defeating a scrappy Miles team 30-24 even with a one-hour weather delay.

The Rams took a 30-17 lead in the fourth quarter and appeared to have the game in the bag, but the Bears put together one last, late scoring drive to make it a once possession game. With the pressure on them, ASU’s offense came through and got the necessary first downs needed to run the clock out and pick up win No. 2 on the season. Here are a few notes from the game:

Run game finally gets going

Entering the contest, the Rams were averaging just 161 rushing yards per game due in large part to injuries suffered by key backs. on Saturday night ASU amassed 279 rushing yards, with McKinley Habersham recording 143 of them. There were a few homerun rushing plays as Kelan Fraise was able to break free for a 20-yard touchdown run, and Tracy Scott took it in from 36 yards out.

“Little by little, we’re getting better,” ASU head coach Gabe Giardina said.

Offense finds some rhythm

Kelias Williams started under center and completed his very first pass for a first down and it appeared the offense was finally going to turn the corner and get going form the jump. Unfortunately, the drive ended with an interception and the Rams were held scoreless in the first quarter. Despite the bludners, late in the game when it mattered the most, Williams was able to make reads and pick up necessary yards to ice the game. Giardina said that once Williams got settled, the offense was able to execute better in the second half.

“I told him ‘look just run the offense. Be one-eleventh of what we need to be successful,’” he said. “You just do you job and that first drive coming out into the second half, I think we went 75 yards in like five plays and that’s what really got us going.”

Quiet night for Dirty Blue defense

The Bears entered the contest averaging 216 yards of total offense. They finished Saturday night’s game with 342. The Rams had trouble containing Justin Hardy, who rushed for a 158 yards and quarterback Daniel Smith, who threw for 173. Tyler Scott came up with the lone interception for the Rams. Giardina said while they have to eliminate mistakes, he saw growth.

“We’re waiting to have a game where we play well on defense, offense and special teams,” he said. “We played better in all three phases, which is good to see. We also had four turnovers on offense, multiple penalties on defense to help them sustain drives in which they scored. We really allowed them to stay in the game which is really frustrating as a coach, but we were able to overcome it because we played better and executed.”

Despite the rocky start, the Rams are still 2-0 in the SIAC East and are tied for first with Benedict.