Albany State rips Clark Atlanta 34-12 for Homecoming

ALBANY – They hugged.

Dished out high-fives.

Then offered words of congratulations.

On this picture-perfect afternoon, the final regular-season season home game at the Albany State University Coliseum served as Senior Day and Homecoming. And no matter how many blown assignments, penalties or turnovers the Rams compiled, this was a day for Albany State.

The Rams scored three first-half touchdowns and routed Clark Atlanta 34-12 before 9,736 on Saturday.

What was even better was the Albany State defense, with the exception of a few busted plays, shut down Clark’s tricky triple-option offensive attack.

Even head coach Mike White had to smile about this one.

“It was a big win,” White said of the Rams’ sixth in a row. “We needed to get out quickly and I thought we did so I’m very happy.”

The victory keeps Albany State (5-2, 5-0 SIAC East Division) atop the division standings and a game ahead of Fort Valley State. If the Rams can win at Benedict next week and Fort Valley State beats Morehouse, the Fountain City Classic on Nov. 8 between ASU and Fort Valley would determine the East Division representative in the SIAC Championship Game on Nov. 16.

But White said that is another conversation for another day.

The Rams staked themselves to a 14-0 advantage on a pair of touchdown runs from running back Jarvis Small, who carried a herd of tacklers into the end zone on his second score – a 23-yard scamper with 12:53 left in the second quarter. His first touchdown run was a 7-yarder.

“We always root for Jarvis every time we have a game or at practice because he is really one of the hardest working guys on the team overall,” sophomore wide receiver Leonard Walker said.

Then Devonta Osborne hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Frank Rivers midway through the second to stake ASU to a 20-0 advantage.

Rivers finished with 174 yards passing on 13 of 17 and three to five different receivers. Osborne had five catches for 63 yards, while Walker finished with three for 70 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.

It was the sixth straight game Small has rushed for 100 yards or more. He finished with three touchdowns, including the clincher late in the fourth on a 4-yard burst to make it 34-6. He helped the Rams’ offense roll up 315 yards of total offense.

White heaped praises on the defense, who stifled Clark’s offense in the first half and allowed their triple option offense just 22 yards on the ground.

But the Panthers (2-6, 0-5) scored their two touchdowns on a pair of big plays – an 18-yard run from running back Matthew Daniels – to trim the deficit to 20-6 late in the third quarter. Then Daniels again broke off a long run, scoring on a 52-yard scamper with 4:05 left. Daniels finished with 79 of Clark’s 162 yards of total offense.

“All week, coaches kept telling us to read our keys, read our keys,” freshman free safety Nick Scott said. “ If we read our keys every time, then they could be stopped. We couldn’t stop it nine out of 10 times, we had to stop it every time.”

As dominating as the boxscore seemed, the Rams couldn’t get away from Clark until Rivers hit Walker on a 49-yard touchdown strike with 14:31 left to make it 27-6.

“I got to see all the seniors have a special day, their last home game, so I’m glad we could get it done,” Scott said. “It was a win for our seniors, so everybody can be proud.”