Golden Bears wilt late in loss to Alabama State
Box Score MONTGOMERY, Ala. – With less than 40 seconds remaining in Saturday's Turkey Day Classic against Alabama State, Miles head coach
Reginald Ruffin was just ready to get his football team to the locker room and lick its wounds after a 26-7 defeat that concluded a tough week of gamesmanship and attrition.
The Hornets (6-5) struggled to get separation from the Golden Bears (7-5), who played with backup quarterback
John McDowell, and led just 12-7 at the end of the third quarter. But after not receiving game film from ASU this week, and dealing with injuries and lack of depth issues during the game, Miles wilted as Bama State scored twice in less than four minutes early in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Still, as the Golden Bears attempted to run out the clock, first-year ASU head coach Brian Jenkins called a completely unnecessary timeout which sent Ruffin to the edge.
As the coaches met a midfield, Ruffin let Jenkins know – in as mild a way as possible – that there was no need for the timeout. While the two had some words, there was not much aggression, although each coach's security detail made sure there was not anything more to it.
"That's a good team. It was in the heat of battle. Nothing was wrong," Ruffin said after his meeting with Jenkins. "I understand what he was talking about. But I just wanted to tell him that he has a good team. They had already won the game."
Miles had just 176 yards of total offense while the Hornets ran 25 more plays and had nearly 500 offensive yards.
Arenza Johnson, Jr. had a game-high 10 tackles while
Jibril Cox and
Cedric Poole each had nine.
ASU led 9-0 after a 2-yard touchdown run by Stanley Robinson and a safety. After getting the ball back, the Hornets were looking to extend the lead behind backup quarterback Ellis Richardson. But on second down,
Braysean Jones batted his pass in the air and came down with it for an interception that gave the Golden Bears the ball at the ASU 18.
"I saw the ball and put my hands up. I knew a play had to be made so I tried my best to make it," said Jones, who had six tackles, one for loss, in his final collegiate contest. "I went up and got it at its highest point. We just did our best as a defense to put the offense in the best position we could."
On the ensuing play, Miles went for the quick score as McDowell went for a deep pass to
Trey Smith at the back of the end zone. But Bradley Street picked off the failed scoring attempt and sent the Golden Bears to the locker room empty-handed.
"He was wide open but there was a stall by the quarterback," Ruffin said. "One or two steps make the difference."
Miles had just 65 yards of total offense in the first half but the defense was able to hold ASU at bay through three quarters. That was long enough for McDowell to engineer a nine-play, 65-yard drive that he punctuated with a 9-yard run to cut the deficit to 12-7 with 1:26 left in the quarter.
"We found a few plays that worked and just kept the tempo up," said McDowell, who threw for 95 yards and rushed for 27 in place of All-SIAC quarterback
David Whipple, who was out with an injury. "That's what we've based our offense on but we were unable to do that in the first half."
The Hornets, though, answered with two scores to salt the game. Khalid Thomas ran one in from nine yards 64 seconds into the fourth quarter to extend the advantage to 18-7. On their next possession, Richardson broke free for a 53-yard touchdown run to end the scoring.
Despite the defeat, Miles players were generally upbeat in being able to appraise their season after suffering a loss in their final game.
"This was a championship season and we gave a championship effort tonight," Jones said. "It's been a good run here for me. I just thank God and Coach Ruffin for putting me in this position to play this game."
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