Coach Gabe: We played a great team and we did not play well

The Albany State Golden Rams were heading into practice in Albany on Monday to work on cleaning up mistakes from Saturday night and begin preparations for next week’s contest at Mississippi College. The 38-3 season-opening loss to Valdosta State gave head coach Gabe Giardina several areas to emphasize as the Rams look to win on the road in Mississippi next Saturday night. Giardina hopes the lessons from the Valdosta State loss will help his team prepare for the Choctaws.

“We had a lot of young players playing college football for the first time,” said head coach Gabe Giardina. “You have to give Valdosta State credit— they played great and we gave them some favors. Their quarterback is an award winner and he looked like it Saturday night. It is the first game and there is a lot of season left. We played a great team and we did not play well. But we are moving forward and we are excited about the challenge for this week.”

Some of the biggest issues Giardina sees that needs work is tackling on defense and decision making on offense.

“We missed way too many tackles,” the coach said. “We definitely did not play our best.”

The Rams lost starting linebacker Antonio Leroy – the defensive leader of the team and one of the leading tacklers – midway through the first half. He went down with a knee injury and his future this season is in doubt. Leroy had an MRI Monday morning and the team is waiting on results.

“When you lose a starter like Antonio there is not one guy who can replace him,” said Giardina. “The good thing is more people get a chance to play because it will take a combination to make up for his production.”

On offense the Rams did well rushing the ball but struggled with the passing game. Quarterback Kelias Williams completed five of 14 passes for 66 yards and threw two interceptions.

“One of those interceptions was just a bad throw and one was poor decision making,” Giardina said. “We have to work on making better decisions. Part of it is confidence. He (Kelias Williams) has the skill, he has the arm and the ability, but he needs more confidence.”

Those who earned a nod for a good performance from the coach included freshman wide receiver Rashad Jordan, running back Tracy Scott and offensive lineman Elshondric Buchanan who was playing his first game as a Golden Ram.

“Jordan got open a number of times,” said the coach. “Tracy Scott ran really well, and we have to get the ball into his hands more. And Buchanan did an excellent job on the line for his first game.”

“On offense, we had some explosive plays with some runs from Scott and Williams, we just couldn’t string things together. We had a couple of passes that were just missed and one that was dropped that would have been a touchdown. If a couple of those plays had gone the right way, we could have gotten back into the ball game and gotten the crowd involved. As it was, we never did get the crowd involved.”

The one group on the field that got Coach Gabe excited was the kick-off coverage team.

“I was really fired up about our kick-off team,” he said. “I was excited to see how fast they played and how well they covered. We had two kick-offs and those guys did an excellent job.”

The Rams will be working this week to prepare for Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss. The Choctaws run the option, which Giardina said means a different type of practice and preparation compared to a team that runs the spread like Valdosta. The Choctaws lost to Alcorn State 45-7 Saturday night, but Alcorn State won their conference a year ago and are a Division 1 FCS team.

“We are excited to have another opportunity,” the coach said. “We are taking this one game at a time.”

Staff Photos: Joe Whitfield
Joe Whitfield