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Savannah State University Athletics

1
14
Virginia-Lynchburg VUL 0-6 , 0-0
28
Winner Savannah St. SSU 3-3 , 2-2
Virginia-Lynchburg VUL
0-6 , 0-0
14
Final
28
Savannah St. SSU
3-3 , 2-2
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
VUL Virginia-Lynchburg 7 0 0 7 14
SSU Savannah St. 0 7 14 7 28

Game Recap: Football | | By Donald Heath

Tigers Tame The Dragons On Homecoming

Savannah, Ga. – Savannah State University set up a punt return on a third-quarter, fourth-down play, but Marlon Jackson had aggression on his mind Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior broke through the Virginia University-Lynchburg line and blocked the punt, setting up the Tigers at the Dragons' 17-yard line.

Four plays later, SSU scored to break a tie and start a three-touchdown run setting the Tigers on route to defeat Virginia University-Lynchburg, 28-14, in a Homecoming game at Theodore A. Wright Stadium in front of 8,748 fans.

"Coach told me not to rush the punter so they were a little mad, but not too mad because I blocked it," Jackson said. "I had to make a play in some kind of way."

Head coach Aaron Kelton said Jackson may have had the play wrong but everything turned out right.

"We were playing for a return, but like we've told them, if somebody doesn't block you go ahead and get it," Kelton said. "Marlon made a great play. It gave us momentum and a short field and we were able to do some things."

For nearly 29 minutes, the Tigers (3-3) looked as if they picked the wrong opponent for Homecoming. The historically black Christian university scored first and had the Savannah State offense bottled up.

But the Tigers scored with 1:04 left in the first half. Red-shirt freshman quarterback Jadon Adams threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Brent Carr to tie the game.

"You never want to go into the locker room down 7-0, so once we got it to 7-7, it gave us new life, a new game 0-0 with 30 minutes left," Adams said. "They were blitzing us heavily. Once we settled in, we were able to pick up the blitz and we were able to get going from that point."
 
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Jackson's block midway through the third quarter opened a floodgate of scoring. Adams added a 1-yard quarterback sneak to complete the 17-yard drive to make it 14-7.

The Tiger defense then forced a three-and-out and VUL's shanked 20-yard punt that positioned the Tigers at the 38. Seven plays later, Adams connected on a 3-yard TD pass to Da'Shun Mitchell and it was 21-7.

Adams finished with 114 passing yards (11-of-24) and two touchdowns and ran for 50 yards (12 carries) and a score.

"We just had a better attitude about what was going on and what we could accomplish and they continued to play hard," Kelton said.

Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, backup quarterback JaMaurion "JT" Hartage ran 37 yards for the final SSU score and the score ballooned to 28-7.

The Dragons (0-6) didn't play the role of sacrificial homecoming foe in the early going. VUL took a 7-0 first-quarter lead when wideout Cincere Clark made a sincerely sensational catch of Fanelle Andrus' pass in a crowded endzone to complete an eight-play, 63-yard touchdown drive.

The Dragons even had the audacity of a rude guest to fake a punt – gaining 20 yards on fourth-and-5 from the SSU 47 – to set up the score.

VUL's defense tamed the Tigers for the first four possessions, but SSU turned things around by scoring 28 points in a 17-minute span.

And the Tiger defense, led by freshman linebacker Tavare Brewton's team-high five tackles – three for losses, played shutout ball for nearly three quarters.

And finally a big crowd that filled the home bleachers and spilled across to the visitors' side could concentrate on homecoming festivities.
And Kelton, in his first year at SSU, could savor his first home win.

"It always feels good to win at home and on Homecoming it becomes extra special," he said. "We didn't play particularly well, but we had to take care of some things in our program and make sure the guys came out and played hard."

The Tigers will be back in action next Saturday (Oct. 15) in Atlanta against Clark-Atlanta University. Savannah State returns home Oct. 22 against Albany State.
 
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