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By Ron Seibel

ALBANY — A schedule front-loaded with southeastern NCAA Division II heavyweights finally caught up with Albany State on Saturday.

After wins over Valdosta State and Tuskegee vaulted the Golden Rams into the national rankings, Albany State faced its third straight NCAA Tournament qualifier Saturday when it hosted North Greenville. It was a challenge the Rams couldn’t conquer, losing 35-27 at The Coliseum.

For Albany State (2-1), the loss ended a week in which it lost practice time to Irma, which passed through Albany as a tropical storm. The loss also put a damper on what had been an extremely hot start by first-year head coach Gabe Giardina.

“We had really good weeks of practice,” Giardina said. “I think we lost a little bit of our focus this week on Wednesday and Thursday (the first post-Irma practices). We’re a young team, we’re trying to find some maturity on some things. But I do believe we have the right character and mentality in that locker room to get that done.”

North Greenville (2-1) did what Valdosta State and Tuskegee couldn’t do against Albany State: run the football.

After holding its first two opponents to an average of 104 rushing yards per game, Albany State yielded 251 yards to North Greenville. The Crusaders had two running backs top the 100-yard mark, with Ashton Heard going for 134 yards and a touchdown and Tracy Scott adding 119 yards and two scores.

North Greenville established the run early. Scott scored both of his touchdowns in the first half, a 25-yarder midway through the first quarter and a 31-yarder with 10:50 remaining in the second quarter.

The two Scott touchdowns gave North Greenville an 18-6 lead. The Crusaders extended that lead to 25-6 a little more than seven minutes into the second half on Heard’s 31-yard scoring run.

Ball control played a role in North Greenville’s success. The Crusaders had zero turnovers, while Albany State gave up a fumble in the first half and an interception in the second half.

Albany State had the chance to make a big statement early, driving deep into North Greenville territory on its first drive. The Rams, however, stalled at the North Greenville 6, resulting in the first of two field goals for Gabriel Ballinas.

“We got cut way too much (Saturday),” Giardina said. “They ran the stretch at will. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to defend it better. And, offensively, we just did not execute in critical moments that well, and we have to.”

A second-half comeback effort by Albany State made things a bit interesting. Touchdowns by Chancellor Johnson and McKinley Habersham, wrapped around a field goal by North Greenville’s Matt Gravely, made it a nine-point game a minute into the fourth quarter.

A 7-yard scoring pass to Demajiay Rooks from Will Hunter with 9:08 to go put North Greenville back up by 16 with nine minutes to go. Albany State made it a one-score contest with 1:07 to go on Chris Sparks’ 24-yard reception of a Johnson pass, but the Rams were unable to field the ensuing onside kickoff attempt.

Johnson completed 22-of-40 passes for 283 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Kelan Fraise added 114 rushing yards on eight carries.