Albany State to face familiar foe at Clark Atlanta

Coach Gabe Giardina and the Golden Rams of Albany State will face some familiar foes this Saturday afternoon when Albany State plays Clark Atlanta University in an SIAC East division matchup in Atlanta. Giardina was a graduate assistant at Alabama at the same time as Clark Atlanta’s head coach Tim Bowens, and Giardina also played college football with another of the Panther assistants. Add to that former ASU assistant Darius Buck left the Golden Rams earlier this year to take the Defensive Coordinator position at Clark Atlanta.

“It’s a first-year staff at Clark Atlanta, and some people I know really well,” Coach Gabe said. “Some of them are good friends so that makes it even more interesting.”

This will be Albany State’s first SIAC game of the season and Clark Atlanta is in the same division as Albany State, so winning this game is vital to reach the goals the Rams have set for themselves.

“One of our goals is to win the Eastern Division of the SIAC,” the coach said. “To do that you have to beat the teams in that division, so this is an important game for us. We have to be resolute. We have to be unwavering in our focus. We are getting a lot of pats on the back and people telling us how great we are after beating West Georgia, but we have to stay focused on what is next and not let that get in the way.”

What is next is a Clark Atlanta team whose offense is very pass oriented. And that offense also has an Albany connection. The Panther’s starting quarterback is Monroe graduate Charles Stafford. Stafford originally went to Albany State out of high school, but later transferred to Clark Atlanta where he now leads a strong passing attack for the Panthers.

“We just need to play our best game,” Giardina said. “They have an aggressive mentality on offense and defense so we will need to be focused.”

The Panthers played their first SIAC contest last Saturday and fell to Central State 26-19. Clark Atlanta is 0-3 so far this season.

The Golden Rams avoided that record by beating the No.15-ranked West Georgia Wolves Saturday night in Carrollton by a 26-14 score. The Rams got a huge game from kicker Gabe Ballinas who kicked four field goals and was named the SIAC’s special teams player of the week for his efforts.

“That was a big-time performance by Gabe,” Giardina said. “Special teams play has been excellent, and our kickoff coverage team did an outstanding job. It was a really good team win. We got after them on defense and offensively we were able to run the ball and use the passing game efficiently.”

The Golden Rams moved that ball offensively without quarterback Kelias Williams who went down early in the game with a collar bone fracture. Redshirt freshman Dionte Bonneau stepped up and led the Golden Rams.

“He didn’t miss a beat,” Giardina said of Bonneau. “He made some nice plays running the ball and threw some nice passes. It was very satisfying to see that from him. Everybody in every area stepped up where we needed.”

Williams went down in the first half of the game, but the Rams were already missing six starters before the game started because of injuries. Linebacker Antonio Leroy is gone for the season with an ACL tear and there were five others banged up and unavailable for the West Georgia game. Giardina said he thinks one of the offensive linemen will be back this week, but the others will probably still need more time. Giardina was especially pleased with the performance of true freshman Trevor Arrington, who took one of the spots for the injured offensive linemen.

“Here is an 18-year-old kid fresh out of high school, and he steps in when he is called and did an excellent job,” the coach said.

Giardina said his players are confident in their abilities to step in when needed.

“It’s not normal to say it’s a good thing to have people banged up,” the coach said, “but we have good competition going on all over the field. These guys are confident, and it is really exciting to see these guys stepping up.”

The Rams will take that confidence into Atlanta for Saturday’s 2 p.m. kick-off. The Rams will return for a home game next week in Albany when Tuskegee University comes to town for another SIAC contest.

Special Photo: Reginald Christian