#16 David Thomas (Quarterback)
MILES WINS SIAC WEST DIVISION TITLE
By John Davidson (The Tuscaloosa News)
TUSCALOOSA, AL – The Miles Golden Bears squeaked by Stillman to claim the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Western Division title with a 9-7 victory, one year after going 3-8 and finishing near the bottom of the conference.
The Golden Bears (6-3; 5-1) won with a suffocating defense, holding the Tigers (6-3; 4-2) to just 210 yards of offense and forcing three interceptions, two in the fourth quarter. They also got just enough offense, led by quarterback
David Thomas, who went 17-of-25 for 180 yards.
“It's been a long time coming for Miles College”, first-year coach
Reginald Ruffin said. “I asked these guys to just buy in, and these guys have bought in.”
The Golden Bears got off to a fast start, starting the game with a trick play. Quarterback
David Thomas threw a 50-yard bomb to D. J. Fife on a flea-flicker pass on the first play from scrimmage.
Several plays later, running back
Jordan Lewis took a pitch in from 4-yards out for the score, diving into the end zone to cap off the scoring drive.
Near the end of the first quarter, Miles got the ball on their own 7 but went three-and-out, punting and giving the Tigers the ball at the Golden Bears 49. The Tigers took advantage, scoring on a 7-yard scramble by quarterback Deandre Purnell, giving the Tigers a 7-6 lead. After the score, it was all downhill for Purnell, as he threw all three of his interceptions in the second half.
“I felt like we played hard, but we had a freshman quarterback and he made freshman mistakes,” Stillman coach Teddy Keaton said.” He'll learn from those mistakes. He's still a leader on our team.”
The Golden Bears almost answered immediately, returning the ensuing kickoff all the way back for a score, but the return was called back for a chop block, forcing Miles to start on its own 15. The Golden Bears drove all the way to midfield but were forced to punt.
“You got to keep fighting, regardless of what happened,” Ruffin said. “We were wrong, we did it, and you just got to go back to the drawing board in times like those.”
On Stillman's second possession of the second half, the Tigers started deep on their side of the field.
After converting a first down with his feet, Purnell threw an interception to
Quentin Jones, giving the Golden Bears the ball on the Stillman 40-yard line.
After converting on fourth down, the Golden Bears converted on a third-and -10 on a 12-yard completion by Thomas. That led to
Patton Chambers' go-ahead field goal with 14:54 left in the game.
Any hope of a comeback ended when Tyrell Kinder intercepted Purnell with 1:43 left after Stillman had burned its timeout while trying to force a Miles punt.
“I read it all the way,” Kinder said.
Miles travel to Tuskegee next week to face Tuskegee, while Stillman head to Atlanta to play Clark Atlanta.
