Benedict Tigers ready for season debut

COLUMBIA, South Carolina - The Benedict College Tigers kick off the 2012 season on Saturday at Virginia Union. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Hovey Field in Richmond, Va.

The Tigers will be young, especially on offense. Redshirt freshman Marcus Graham is set to take over the reins at quarterback.

The main area of improvement head coach James Woody wants to see from his offense is to cut down on turnovers. Last year, the Tigers turned the ball over 37 times.

The Tigers have more experience on the defensive side, led by preseason All-SIAC safety Martin Epps and defensive lineman Dyrell Porcha.

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17-TD runner gets ready for senior season at VUU

RICHMOND, Virginia - After completing a four-year letterman campaign at Westwood High School in Fort Pierce, Fla., Jerrell Washington was on his way to the military until he got a phone call.

"Coach (Calvin) Randall gave me a call and told me that he wanted me to come up (to Virginia Union)," Washington said. "So I came up without a visit. "At first, I was like 'OK' but then after awhile, I got used to it and I felt welcomed. And that's the big thing that really helped me here."

For Washington, moving to Richmond was culture shock. Fort Pierce, with a population of 37,516, is in St. Lucie County, located between Orlando and Miami. The Richmond metro area has 205,533 people.

"Here in Richmond, there are city buses. In Fort Pierce, they don't have that. To get around, we'll either walk or ride bikes, so to me, Richmond is a real city," Washington said. "It was amazing to get out of Fort Pierce and see something bigger and better."

VIRGINIA UNION vs. BENEDICT
CIAA football
Saturday: 7 p.m., Hovey Field
Radio: WFTH (1590)

 

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Georgia State Panthers falls to South Carolina State 33-6

ATLANTA, Georgia - Richard Cue was just too much for Georgia State in Thursday’s 2012 season opener. The South Carolina State quarterback threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns as the Bulldogs defeated the Panthers, 33-6 in front of 18,921 at the Georgia Dome.

Georgia State scored on its first possession of the second half, getting a 25-yard field goal from Matt Ehasz to get to within 14-6. But the hosts never got closer.

On the ensuing drive, Cue, who a year ago threw for just 900 yards in nine games, completed all three of his pass attempts, including a 13-yard touchdown toss to Tyler McDonald that put the Bulldogs up 21-6.

In between two Georgia State drives-one that ended on a punt and the other when Matt Ehasz’s 36-yard field goal attempt was wide right-Nick Belcher kicked a pair of field goals from 20 and 27 yards, the last of which capped a 17-play drive and made it 27-6 with just under six minutes to play.

A late touchdown pass helped South Carolina State build a 14-3 halftime lead. With 40 seconds left in the second quarter, Cue led the visiting Bulldogs on a two-play drive, culminating in a 22-yard touchdown toss to McDonald. The junior wide receiver made a great catch, then tight-roped the sideline and reached the end zone.

Georgia State, kicking off its third season and final one under coach Bill Curry, had cut the deficit to 7-3 on a 36-yard field goal by Matt Ehasz. But the Panthers couldn't capitalize after Cue was intercepted for the second time in the half, this time by Brent McClendon with 5:40 to play in the second. Minor's 24-yard attempt hit the right upright to keep it a four-point game.

South Carolina State struck first. On a third-and-seven deep in their own territory, the Bulldogs got a 73-yard touchdown connection from Cue to Lennel Elmore to make it 7-0 just 54 seconds into the game.

Georgia State had a pair of record-breaking plays in the opening half. Senior running back Donald Russell (120 yards on 12 carries) tied teammate Kelton Hill for the fourth-longest run from scrimmage in the Panthers’ three-year history with a 52-yard scamper midway through the first quarter. That gave the Panthers the ball at the South Carolina State 32-yard line, but the drive stalled after three short runs and an incompletion on fourth-and-two.

Punter Matt Hubbard bested his own school record with an 80-yard punt that pinned South Carolina State to its two-yard line. Hubbard’s previous best was a 64-yarder against Texas-San Antonio in October, 2011.

That set up the Panthers’ defense, which came up with a big stop on third-and-two to force a punt. Redshirt-freshman Ben McLane, making his first collegiate start at quarterback, came through with his first big play, hooking up with Danny Williams for a 20-yard completion. It allowed Ehasz to boot his field goal with 6:33 left until halftime.

McLane struggled in his debut. He completed just 7 of 15 passes for 54 yards and was sacked five times. Hill relieved McLane on a number of possessions, and the redshirt-junior was 7 of 13 for 76 yards.

Late in the game, Georgia State was driving when Parris Lee fumbled, Dominique Mitchell recovered and returned it 68 yards for a touchdown and a 33-6 cushion.

COURTESY GEORGIA STATE SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS

XU's Echebelem is GCAC Player of the Week

Chinedu Echebelem

NEW ORLEANS — For the second consecutive year, Xavier University of Louisiana has the season's first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in women's volleyball. Chinedu Echebelem won the award for Aug. 20-26, the conference announced Thursday.

Echebelem — a 5-foot-6 outside hitter from Dallas and a graduate of Duncanville High School — earned the award after recording 30 kills and 29 digs in three matches during the Lee Invitational at Cleveland, Tenn. Echebelem had a pair of kill-dig double-doubles, including 12 kills and 14 digs Saturday against Union (Ky.) in the Gold Nuggets' 25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 25-16 victory. Echebelem had two double-doubles in 29 matches in 2011.

Xavier's home opener, scheduled for Tuesday against city rival Loyola at The Barn, has been postponed. Xavier has been closed since late Monday afternoon due to Hurricane Isaac, and the university will reopen Tuesday. No makeup date for the match has been determined.


By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

Alabama State athletic director Stacy Danley placed on leave

MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Stacy Danley’s future as Alabama State University’s athletic director is cloudy after school officials confirmed Wednesday that Danley had been placed on administrative leave. The Montgomery Advertiser broke the story Wednesday afternoon on www.montgomeryadvertiser.com.

“Stacy Danley, ASU’s athletic director, is on administrative leave with pay,” according to ASU spokesman Kenneth Mullinax. “Since this situation is a pending personnel matter due to protocol at ASU, I am not allowed to discuss any of the details.”

The Hornets’ athletic director, who has served a little more than 25 months on the job, said from his home in Auburn that there were “fundamental differences (on) how you operate, but let’s see how we can get past this adversity.”


“Alabama State, with or without Stacy Danley, has a chance to be extremely special,” he added.


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S.C. State Bulldogs looking for 'good time' in Atlanta opener

ATLANTA, Ga. – Georgia State is not a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference member.

Yet for South Carolina State, tonight’s season-opener on the road is as important as pending conference matchups against Bethune-Cookman and Norfolk State. With all the talk in the preseason focused on regaining the MEAC title, getting positive momentum early is vital.

“Oh, it’s big,” head coach Buddy Pough said. “It’s a ‘live or die’ kind of deal here. We can’t be messing around these first couple of games. We’ve got to hit the ground running. The fact that we’ve got that two-game swing out West (Sept. 22 at Texas A&M and Sept. 29 at Arizona) means that we don’t need to let any of these slip through our fingers because ... it’s going to be hard to make up time on those guys, so we’ve got to make it happen now.”

Under Pough, the Bulldogs are 4-6 in season-openers and have dropped their last two meetings against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents Georgia Tech (41-10) in 2010 and Central Michigan (21-6) last year. In Georgia State, they face a program entering its third season of existence, playing for the first and only time on the Football Championship Subdivision level in the Colonial Athletic Association before moving up to FBS play in the Sunbelt Conference.

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DSU's Tarpley focused on wins, not milestones

DOVER, Delaware — Travis Tarpley can laugh about it now, but he still remembers looking for someplace to hide after fumbling away the opening kickoff to Delaware State’s football season last year at Virginia Military Institute.

But Tarpley didn’t dwell on the miscue for too long. He went on to score the Hornets’ first touchdown of the season by catching a 19-yard pass from Nick Elko in DSU’s 24-21 win.



“I was so excited, getting all nervous and everything, and then I fumbled,” said Tarpley, a 5-foot-7, 175-pound wide receiver and kick returner. “This [Saturday], hopefully I’ll get another chance to take a crack at it, and I’m going to try to take it to the house this year.”

Tarpley, a redshirt senior, promises to play a key role when Delaware State hosts Virginia Military Institute at Alumni Stadium in its season opener on Saturday at 2 p.m.



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