SAVANNAH, Ga.- RaShawn Truell came off the bench to toss two touchdown passes as Savannah State opened Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 49-17 loss to Albany State at Theodore A. Wright Stadium on Saturday evening. The contest, which drew 2,917 fans, was also the Tigers first home game of the season.
Albany State scored on their first possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead with 8:51 remaining in the first quarter and added another touchdown on their first drive of the second quarter as they took a 14-0 advantage into the half.
Savannah State had trouble moving the ball in the first two quarters and went into intermission with six yards and no points.
The Golden Rams scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter to go ahead 28-0.
Truell entered the game to start the fourth quarter and his first pass attempt was intercepted and returned for a touchdown that increased the Albany State lead to 35-0 with 14:47 left to play.
The Tigers settled down on their following possession as Truell engineered a 8-play, 51-yard drive than ended with a 42 yard field goal by
Joshua Woodley. It was Savannah State's first points of the game as well as the young season.
During the drive, Truell completed passes to
Cinsere Clark (11 yards),
Jahziah Avilez (29 yards) and
Rodney Hill (16 yards) before it stalled at the ASU 24.
Albany State answered SSU's field goal with a touchdown with 5:39 left for a 42-3 lead.
The Tigers responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that took just two plays.
On first down at their own 25,
Camron Jones caught a seven-yard pass from Truell and on the very next play, Truell threw a long pass down the middle of the field that was caught by
Trenton Rhodes for a 68-yard touchdown with 4:38 showing on the clock to make the score 42-10.
Sixteen seconds later, Albany State found the end zone for a 49-10 lead but Savannah State added one more score with Truell finding Clark for a 17-yard touchdown pass to complete a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive with 1:42remaining.
The Tigers had two key plays during the possession. Faced with a fourth and fourth from their own 46, Avilez hauled in a 13-yard reception that gave SSU a first and ten from the Albany State 41. The second big play was a 24-yard run by Hill which gave Savannah State a first and ten at the Golden Rams 17.
Truell, who passed for 213 yards in last season's 21-18 loss to Albany State, completed 9 of 17 passes for 171 yards, two touchdowns and a interception on Saturday night.
Christian Burks started the game at quarterback and completed 4 of 6 passes for 24 yards while
Fabian Walker ended the game with 16 passing yards while completing 3 of 4 attempts.
Hill was the Tigers leading ground gainer with 30 yards on six carries while catching two passes for 24 yards.
Clark had four receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown while Rhodes caught two passes for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Reginald Troutman and
Kaiden Stanciel both had eight tackles while
Terrell Gordon, Jr. and
Adonis Brazil had six tackles apiece. Brazil had two sacks and two tackles for loss,
Anthony Wilson had 1.5 sacks and Troutman,
Akeem White and
Wadson Dieudonne all had one sack each.
Chase Butler averaged 40.2 yards per punt and had a 60-yarder in the third quarter.
As a team, Savannah State had 230 yards of offense with 211 through the air while Albany State had 439 yards of offense. Both teams had four sacks.
Savannah State (0-2, 0-1 SIAC) will travel to Edward Waters on September 19 for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Nathaniel Glover Community Field & Stadium.
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