Albany State 41,
Fort Valley State 23
November 5, 2005
Antwan Andrews ran for 146 yards and scored
three touchdowns and Antonio Atkins added 123 yards and
two touchdowns to lead the Albany State University Golden
Rams to a 41-23 victory over the Fort Valley State University
Wildcats in the 16th Annual Fountain City Classic in
Columbus, Ga. on Saturday. A crowd of 22,483 fans gathered
at the A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium to witness the Golden
Rams clinch their third consecutive Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (SIAC) championship and the 12th
in school history.
Andrews, who rushed for 146 yards on 24 carries, scored
Albany State’s first touchdown on a one-yard run
on an 11-play, 80-yard drive to give ASU a 7-0 lead early
in the first quarter. Less than five minutes later, Fort
Valley’s Jake Grubbs kicked a 20-yard field goal
to give the Wildcats three points. On Albany State’s
next possession, Andrews rushed three yards into the
Wildcat end zone to give the Golden Rams a 14-3 lead.
The Wildcats dominated the second quarter, scoring two
touchdowns. Nathaniel Randall caught a 29-yard pass from
Willie Copeland with 11:53 on the clock to bring Fort
Valley to within four points of the Golden Rams. The
Wildcats took the 17-14 halftime lead when Copeland ran
one-yard into the end zone.
The Golden Rams scored 20 points in the third quarter.
Albany State’s first possession of the quarter
resulted in a touchdown and the lead after Atkins, who
rushed for 123 yards on 15 carries, ran 12 yards into
the Fort Valley end zone on an 11-play, 65- yard drive.
The Golden Rams scored again after Marcus Jefferson intercepted
a Wildcat pass and returned the ball 30 yards to score
for the Golden Rams. With less than four minutes on the
clock in the third, Andrews ran 31 yards to score for
the Golden Rams to up the score to 34-17.
Atkins gave Albany State another score and sealed the
victory for ASU after rushing 27 yards on a four-play,
40-yard drive early in the fourth quarter. Later, Fort
Valley’s Zedrick West completed a six-yard touchdown
pass to Randall for a 41-23 final score.
The Golden Rams offense racked up 552 yards in total
offense, including 377 rushing and 175 passing yards
on 65 total plays. ASU quarterback Hosea Harris passed
for 175 yards, completing eight of 12 passes. He also
rushed for 73 yards on seven carries. ASU kicker Matthew
Hawthorne was five for six in PATs.
Fort Valley’s offense had 417 yards in total offense,
with 250 rushing and 167 passing yards. Copeland passed
for 161 yards and completed 16 of 25 passes with an interception,
while West completed two of three passes for six yards
for the Wildcats. Tavaris Holliday led the Wildcats in
rushing with 134 yards on eight carries.
On the other side of the ball, Roderick Whipple led
the ASU “Dirty Blue” defense with 13 tackles
(six solos), and Roderick Cummings and Eric Crosby added
11 tackles each. Cedric Ware led the Wildcats with 12
tackles (four solos) with two tackles for a loss of one
yard.
Atkins and Holiday received the Fountain City Classic
Most Valuable Player Awards.
The Golden Rams finish the regular season with 8-1 overall
and SIAC records, while the Wildcats drop to 7-3 and
7-2 in SIAC play.
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