Inside Hotlanta and the SIAC

By Hal Lamar

Albany State-FOUR STRAIGHT!

The Rams of Albany State University shut the mouths of the boo-birds and won back the hard-core by defeating Lane 13-3 last weekend and winning homecoming at the same time.

A crowd of 15,000 saw the Rams step into first place in the eastern division of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Confeerence (SIAC) with a total won-loss of 4-2 and an unblemished 2-0 among their conferrence contemporaries.

Last Saturday's win also eased the nerves of pre-season forecasters who predicted a first place finish in the SIAC for AsU. If they maintain, it would earn them another trip to the conference championship game scheduled for November 16.

'ROUND THE CONFERENCE: Central State of Ohio and Fort Valley State of Peach County, Georgia scored 16 times between the two. The Wildcats crossed the finish line 11 of those times and it was enough to defeat the Maruders 77-34 and spoil homecoming for their hosts. Fort Valley's lucky charm is Slade Jarmin. The senior threw 386 passing yards and four touchowns plus rushed for an additional six. Central State's Terraris Safford, meanwhile, rushed for 235 yards and three scores. CSO acually began the game leading through the 2nd period but lost it and never got it back.StaffordSavannah State, playing great football since rejoining the SIAC, took it on the chin from Alcorn 42-17. The Braves, first in the eastern division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SwAC) with a 4-2 overall mark, were led by their quarterback Feliz Harper, who threw 324 passing yards and five touchowns.

Benedict had to swallow another loss, this time to Miles 31-24 and . unfortuntely on the Tigers homecoming. Benedict actually grabbed a 21-17 lead with 3:47 left in the game but then the Bears responded from their own 40, benefitted from two 3rd down conversaions in the drive, then scored. Miles also played great ball control which left the Tigers with only 11 seconds to do anything...which they couldn't.

Kentucky State rebounded from their loss the previous week to Morehouse and won homecoming 35-24 before close to 10,000 fans. Despite the Panthers losing their sixth striaght, it didn't stop their junior quarterback Charles Stafford from having another banner day with 343 yards passing and three touchdowns. Stafford was sacked once and had one interception. An opportunity to score once more in the contest late came too late.

Despite two late fourth quarter scoring threats, Morehouse failed on both and wound up on the losing end to Tuskegee 21-10. Tuskegee, now improved to 2-4 and 1-1 for third place in the SIAC west, led the game 14-10 at halftime. A crowd of 31,091 crammed every avaliable seat at Columbus, Georgia's AJ McClung Memorial Stadium, despite the facilty listed as only holding 15,000.

THIS WEEKEND'S INSIDE PICKS FOR 10-19-19
Tuskegee over Central State
Lane over Kentucky State (Lane homecoming)
CAU over Savannah State (CAU homecoming)
Fort Valley over Morehouse (MH homecoming)
Albany State over Benedict-(the game will be shown over ESPN 3)
Miles over Edward Waters

Got an item? Contact Hal -> hallamar at comcast.net