Albany State football team looks to make the city proud

ALBANY — Albany State University has been through a great deal this fall. Headlines haven’t been as favorable as they would’ve liked, and now with the announcement of the merger made official, a wave of uncertainty has washed over the campus.

One constant bright spot this year has been the Rams football team. After starting 0-2, the Rams turned things around to win six of their next seven and achieve their goal of making it back to the SIAC title game on Saturday. For assistant coach Anthony Kelly, he hopes their achievements gives the community something to be proud of in the midst of the change.

“We’re hoping it means a lot,” he said. “There are a lot of people in this community, as well as on our coaching staff, who are Albany State people. We’re very prideful in our program and our university and the students are very excited about this opportunity.”

After the exciting victory over Fort Valley, ASU president Art Dunning said he’s thrilled at what head coach Dan Land has been able to do in his first season.

“I think he’s done an extraordinary job,” he said. “This is a great way to finish the regular season, with a win and it’s also against our arch rival.

Continuing that success for their first-year head coach is something senior linebacker Tavarius Washington sees as an extra bit of motivation.

“It would be a great accomplishment [to help our] first year coach get his first ring,” he said.

A win on Saturday would bring the school its first SIAC title since former head coach Mike White led the team in 2013. It would also avenge the 47-41 loss to Tuskegee in last year’s championship matchup that Washington said left the team hurting.

“There’s nothing like losing the championship game. It hurt, it hurt bad,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that we were the underdog, but we knew we were gonna have to play good ball and execute. When it came down to stretch, they just made better plays than we did. When it was time to make a play, they made it and we didn’t.”

That disappointment fired the team up and helped them go undefeated in the SIAC. They fed off the emotion surrounding the Fountain City Classic and surged past their arch rival. While they all wanted another crack at Tuskegee, who’s been a thorn in their side for some time now, they’re grateful for the opportunity to play in the championship game and plan on making the most of it. With all that’s gone on in the last three months, Washington said he feels it’s made them stronger as a team.

“Everybody’s finally bought into the system,” he said.

They’ll try to come together one more time to bring back a title to the city.