High stakes riding on Fountain City Classic

ALBANY — There more is at stake than just bragging rights this year in the annual Fountain City Classic.

Albany State, who is 5-3 and 3-0 in the SIAC East, takes on a Fort Valley State team that is also 5-3 and undefeated in the SIAC East in the 2 p.m. game at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium in Columbus. The winner will earn a trip to the SIAC Championship game next week at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala.

“It’s win or go home,” offensive coordinator Steve Smith said. “When it’s a scenario where it’s win or go home, there’s a lot more things involved in what we gotta get done. It’s not just about the rivalry, it’s about our livelihood and what we set out to accomplish at beginning of the season, and that’s to get to the championship game and win it.”

Fort Valley State is coming off a 35-3 win over Morehouse. Quarterbacks Malcolm Eady and Otis Brown went a combined 17 of 26 for 241 passing yards and three touchdowns. They only gained 117 rushing yards between nine people, but defensively they held Morehouse to just 95 yards rushing and 87 yards passing.

On the season, the Wildcats come in with a balanced attack, averaging 121 rushing yards per game to go along with 191 passing yards.

Smith said for his team, the seniors in particular, they have to take advantage of every opportunity.

“We just need to be consistent,” he said. “Our run game needs to be consistent, our passing game needs to be consistent. Our players need to understand that we can’t make mistakes. We have to play mistake-free football. Play 60 minutes of mistake-free football. Play 60 minutes of ‘I’ve got to be the best that I can be on every play’ football…you can’t make mistakes because that one mistake will cause you to go home.”

The Rams are led by their ground game. ASU is averaging 165.9 rushing yards, 109.88 of those coming from Jarvis Small. They’ve had a reliable passing game this season, averaging 158.5.

After throwing eight interceptions during the first five games, Caleb Edmonds has not thrown a pick since. Land said he’s learning how to be more of a game manager and is stepping up when they need him to. Land said the chemistry that they’ve been working all season to build should help them peak at the right time.

“If you call this an advantage, I feel like the last couple games our guys have been playing better together,” he said. “They are gelling together like they should be, they’re understanding what we want to get done offensively, defensively and on special teams and just right now, we’re clicking. We’re playing better as a unit than we did before.”

He added that he feels the defense, which has been stellar all season holding opponents to just 16.63 points per game and 271.1 yards of total offense, can play even better.