SAVANNAH, Ga. Savannah State's offense rallied from a ten point halftime deficit by outscoring the defense 26-7 in the second half in a 40-29 win in the annual Orange & Blue Game which was held Friday afternoon at Theodore A. Wright Stadium.

The game wrapped up the Tigers spring football season which started on March 3 with 14 practices prior to the Orange & Blue Game.

The scoring format for the contest had the offense getting seven points for a touchdown and two points for plays over 15 yards. The defense earned three points for fourth down stops, one point for a sack and five points for a interception.

The game was played with two 20-minute halves.

The defense stopped the offense on their first two drives of the day, which earned them six points.

A 21-yard pass play from quarterback Ronnie Faison to wide receiver Cinsere Clark gave the offense two points but a eight yard sack on Faison by William Jones gave the defense another point and they added five more when Ahlik Booker picked off a Faison pass and returned it to the 30 yard line.

Running back Joseph Hampton helped the offense earned four more points by ripping off a 17-yard run and then caught a 46-yard pass from quarterback Austin Williams.

The offense was driving for another score when Williams was stopped inside the ten yard line on a fourth down play for no gain which resulted in three more points for the defense.

Two drives later, running back Zyaire Williams scored on a four-yard run for the offense which earned them seven points.

But the defense ended the first half by getting eight more points when Gary Davis, Jr. nearly picked off a Jaylen Patterson pass on fourth day and on the following drive, Booker intercepted a pass thrown by Fabian Walker and returned it to the 17-yard line.

The Blue (defense) led the Orange (offense) at the half, 23-13.

A sack on Faison by Andrew Horsley gave the defense three points in the second half to expand their lead to 13 points.

But the offense answered with 18 points starting with Patterson throwing a 31 yard touchdown to a wide open Richard Williams for seven points. Walker threw a 15-yard pass to Cameron Leonard and followed that with a 39-yard touchdown pass to tight end Arik Gilbert. Freshman running back Caleb Barbas added a 24-yard run to add two more points for the offense for a 31-26 lead.

The final points of the day for the defense came when they stopped Barbas for a four yard gain on fourth and 16 which made the score 31-29.

On the next play, Barbas gave the offense some life with a 30-yard run and three possessions later, Patterson scored on a 15-yard run for the final points of the game.

Walker completes six passes while Faison, Williams and Patterson all completed four passes.

Barbas ran the ball six times for 74 yards while Zyaire Williams added 30 yards and Hampton had 27 rushing yards.

Evan Guyton had 46 yards in receptions, Gilbert had 39 yards and Richard Williams had 31 yards.

Booker led the defense with two interceptions while Tavare Brewton, Marcus Coffee, Uchenna Nwoha, William Jones and Ameer Phillips among others all interrupted the offensive flow with their play.

Savannah State is coming off a 5-5 season in 2024 and will open the 2025 season on August 30 at Theodore A. Wright Stadium against SIAC foe and I-95 rival Edward Waters at 6 p.m.

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