Sunday, September 16, 2007

B-CU coach heaps praise on SSU Tigers


By Noell Barnidge, Savannah Morning News

This is not the same Savannah State football team, according to Bethune-Cookman coach Alvin Wyatt.

Wyatt said his Wildcats' 45-13 victory Saturday did not come as easily as BC-U's 55-6 win over SSU last season.

"Savannah State is a good football team," Wyatt said. "(SSU coach) Theo Lemon is doing a good job with them. They were much, much, much more physical than they were last year. They were very aggressive.

"They had great poise at times, too. You can see the improvement. As we continue to play, this series is going to get tougher and tougher. He's getting the best out of what he has over there."

B-CU owns a 30-8 series lead. SSU has not beaten B-CU since 1992, when the late Bill Davis coached the Tigers to a 31-21 victory.

B-CU quarterback Jimmie Russell of Jonesboro said SSU has better athletes than it did last season, when the Tigers finished 2-9 in Lemon's first season.

"They're a better team. They get better every year we play them," Russell said. "Me and my center (Deron Barnes) were talking about how we don't like playing Savannah State because they keep getting better.

"They were a lot more aggressive. Their middle linebacker, No. 51 (Calvin Leonard), he's a ballplayer. He made a lot of great plays. I guess he's their motivator on defense. He did a lot."

Too little, too late
SSU trailed, 24-0, at halftime and Lemon said the Tigers missed a great opportunity by waiting until the second half to score points.

"I thought we played real well, defensively," Lemon said. "But, offensively, we just couldn't generate anything until the second half.

"We moved the ball a little but, but with a team like Bethune-Cookman you can't be pretty good. You have to be on all cylinders."

McCrary scores first TD as a Tiger
SSU backup quarterback Greg McCrary ran for a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was the first collegiate touchdown for the freshman from Stone Mountain.
"I'm not going to say I was happy about the touchdown because we were losing," McCrary said. "Scoring ain't on my mind. Winning is on my mind."

McCrary entered the game when starter JaCorey Kilcrease came out with 14 minutes, 4 seconds to play because of an injury to his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

In the season opener at Morgan State, McCrary was 0-for-4 passing with two interceptions. He appeared more poised against Bethune-Cookman, completing 2-for-11 passes for 29 yards, and rushing three times for 14 yards and a touchdown. He was, however, intercepted by B-CU's Corey Council, who ran the ball back for an 85-yard touchdown with 39 seconds to play.

"He threw the pick at the end, and that really hurt us, but he's young," Lemon said. "I told him when he went out there, 'We're going to take some chances.' And we took some chances. He threw that ball in the flat and the guy (Council) took it all the way back."

Council finally strikes
B-CU's Council, a Valdosta native, returned a kickoff for a 98-yard touchdown in the Wildcats' 23-14 loss to South Carolina State. He was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

SSU limited Council to 24 yards on two punt returns until Council struck, defensively.

"That's my roommate," Russell said, smiling. "When he scores I know he's a much happier person at the house instead of walking around moping. That's two games in a row now that he's scored a touchdown."

Lemon was pleased with SSU's special teams effort against Council.

"Going into this game we knew he was a force to be reckoned with," Lemon said. "We wanted to kick the ball away from him and not give him a highlight show out there. Until he got that interception, I don't think he had done very much. But he's a good football player and good football players are going to find a way to make something happen."

Denson scores first TD as a Tiger
SSU wide receiver A.J. Denson, a freshman from Macon, scored his first collegiate touchdown when Kilcrease connected with him for a 39-yard scoring strike.
"I saw the middle of the field wide open so I just ran in that direction," Denson said. "My quarterback put it there like he was supposed to."

B-CU brings marching band
Bethune-Cookman brought its marching band - all 357 members - and took up an entire section, from top to bottom, in the Memorial Stadium stands.

B-CU's marching band is among the nation's largest, according to sports information director Bryan Harvey.

Harvey said B-CU's marching band is scheduled to perform today at halftime of the Tampa Bay Buccanners' NFL game.

No SSU game on the radio
SSU's game was not broadcast on WHCJ 90.3 FM because the radio station was struck by lightning earlier in the week, SSU sports information director Opio Mashariki said.

Field looked great
Memorial Stadium was in excellent condition Saturday, which pleased SSU athletics director Robert "Tony" O'Neal.

O'Neal was worried that the field would be a muddy mess because of Friday night's rain, but the field drained well.

It also helped that the high school game between Beach and Charlton County was cancelled because of lightning.

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