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| (Photo by Sarah Peacok) |
JACKSONVILLE (Florida Sports Wire) – In a battle of attrition, Savannah State and Edward Waters traded punch-for-punch on Saturday, but the Tigers held their will at the line to pick up their first win of the season.
Trailing by three points, Edward Waters started the final drive of the game on their own 29-yard line with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Six plays later, with a new set of downs and one minute to play, on Savannah State's 23-yard line, they looked poised to score.
Out of the shotgun, Tyler King rushed up the middle but lost the ball. Jonathan Glover was there to recover for Savannah State and help the Tigers to a 31-28 win over Edward Waters.
With the win, Savannah State evened the historic series at 12-12-4 and new coach Aaron Kelton earned his first win as a Tiger. It was the first conference win as well for the team since Edward Waters moved up from a provisional to a full member in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) this year.
"It feels awesome," Kelton said after the game. "I feel great for the guys, to get this off their back. It feels great to start our legacy. That's what we talked about with this team—what is our legacy going to be?"
The stat line for Saturday's game was nearly equal. Savannah State put up 238 yards of rushing to Edward Waters 218. The Tigers passed for 101 yards to the home team's 160. Penalties hurt both sides throughout the game. Savannah State had six penalties for 40 yards and Edward Waters had seven for 56 yards.
But Savannah State managed to put more points up in the first three quarters, and that became the deciding factor.
Jorge Gonzalez opened the scoring for Savannah State on the Tigers first drive of the game with a 27-yard field goal—his first of the season. On the subsequent drive, Edward Waters took their only lead of the game. King rushed in at the 7:05 mark for a touchdown, following a 0-play, 77-yard drive from the home team.
But before the quarter ended, Savannah State responded with their 10-play, 63-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 10-yard scoring dash from Jatavion Williams. Savannah State never again trailed, putting up another touchdown in the second and two more in the third.
Redshirt freshmen Jadon Adams started the second quarter for Savannah State, taking over quarterback duties for JT Hartage and Isaiah Robinson in the first quarter.
Following his breakout performance in Savannah State's opening loss last week, Adams again looked poised in the pocket. He connected on 4-of-8 passing attempts with two touchdown tosses to Brent Carr. He rushed eight times for 29 yards. His only hiccup came from two interceptions late in the game.
Shamarcus Poole remained the Tigers powerback, rushing 10 times for a 88 yards. Freshmen Joseph Hampton also had a productive night, rushing nine times for 47 yards.
On the other side of the ball, Tavare Brewton led Savannah State in tackles with six, followed by Kelvin Drummed with five.