Albany State honors fallen teammate, advances to SIAC Championship Game

COLUMBUS — Albany State’s football team won an emotional game Saturday, defeating rival Fort Valley State 57-0 in the 31st annual Fountain City Classic.

With the win, Albany State (9-1, 6-0 SIAC) will have the opportunity to avenge the championship loss to Miles College in 2019, as they will face the Golden Bears in the 2021 SIAC Championship game. In addition to dealing with Fort Valley (5-5, 2-3), the Golden Rams played with heavy hearts after the death of sophomore Adonis Butler, who was killed Monday afternoon in a bus accident.

Coming off of one of the toughest weeks in school history, ASU honored Butler by scoring his jersey number — 57.

In the fourth quarter, with ASU up 51-0, backup quarterback Jhaydon Sullivan hit a streaking Jaleel Johnson for a 37-yrd touchdown with 7:15 remaining. With the score at 57-0, ASU chose to kneel and not pass the number of its fallen teammate in an emotional tribute. Butler’s family was presented with the ball that scored the final touchdown.

ASU head coach Gabe Giardina was aware of the possibility, but was at an awkard position at halftime. With the Golden Rams up 38-0, he was pondering how to possibly score 19 points to reach the number.

“We knew what we wanted to do to honor Adonis and I applaud our amazing coaching staff for not only keeping our players focused on this tough week, but putting a solid game plan together,” Giardina said.

Giardina was soaked with Gatorade at the conclusion of the game as the players found a way to celebrate the victory.

Dionte Bonneau passed for 103 yards on 7 of 10 passing. Kam Ward ran for 103 yards on nine carries. Joe Shorter caught two touchdowns for a total of 62 yards.

Albany State Athletics