Albany State faces familiar foe in North Greenville

ALBANY — The 2-0 Albany State Rams host what head coach Gabe Giardina describes as a familiar foe in North Greenville at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Giardina said he faced the Crusaders several times while at Charleston Southern and knows the staff very well.

“It’s probably the most familiar we’ll be with anybody on our whole entire schedule,” he said. “That’s a good thing, but that’s also a bad thing because they’ll be real familiar with us.”

After the 20-7 win over Tuskegee in the White Water Classic last week, the Rams climbed in the Division II rankings and are currently 16th in the nation, a feat the team hasn’t accomplished since 2012. Coincidentally, 2012 was the last time the Rams defeated the Crusaders, getting a 24-12 home victory.

Giardina said one of the top priorities has been keeping the team grounded.

“I’m happy for our team, I’m happy for our school, I’m happy for our community,” he said. “At the same time, we’ve got to kind of dial it back humility-wise. We can’t focus on the end of the season right now, we’ve got to focus on North Greenville. Getting our guys better every single day.”

The Crusaders are 1-1 and coming off a 22-10 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne last week. The team struggled offensively, garnering just 199 total yards of offense while losing a fumble and an interception in the contest.

Despite last week’s struggles, Giardina described Lenoir-Rhyne’s offense, which has a season average of 341.5 total yards of offense, as “creative.”

The “Dirty Blue Defense” boast the reigning SIAC Defensive Player of the Week in linebacker Marquez Thomas and come into the contest having held opponents to just 19 points in two games. Albany State has only given up an average of 215 yards per game so far this season.

ASU defensive coordinator Cory Peoples said awareness will be the key to slowing down the crafty offense.

“They’re real creative, so we’ve got to be attentive to everything they’ve got going on,” Peoples said. “They do a lot of stuff as far as imbalance formation sideline type deals. The offensive coordinator is really good, creative guy. Probably one of the best guys we’re gonna face this year.”

On the offensive side of the ball, quarterback Chancellor Johnson earned SIAC Player of the Week honors, as well. He has led the “Gold Rush Offense” to 49 points in two games and is averaging 381 yards per game.

Giardina said ball security is the focus for the offense this week.

“Offensively, we’ve just got to take care of the ball and not beat ourselves,” he said.