Photo Courtesy of FAMU Athletics
The Rattlers won their first game of the season and their third home game since 2013 against the Savannah State Tigers. The win comes after head coach Alex Wood’s comments made after last week’s game saying that he would “cut them all” off the team if he could.
The Rattlers are trying to get back in the charts as serious competitors, this being their first win since October of last year.
Junior running back out of Delray Beach, Fla. Tevin Spells, along with redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Stanley, led the way for the Rattlers early on hooking up for the first touchdown of the game.
Stanley continued to gain yardage on the ground saying that he learned from his past mistakes.
“Instead of throwing the ball away, I just got to learn to make plays on my feet,” Stanley said. At the end he came up with a total of 45 yards rushing.
Even on his first start Stanley was still highly critical of himself.
“We left a lot of points on the field but you have to be happy about the W,” he said.
Rattlers had their most success when they followed through with their no huddle offense scoring all three touchdowns because of it.
Rattlers took the lead right before the half ended with a score to 13-7 on a pass to junior wide receiver Kareem Smith.
The Rattlers defense led by defensive end Elijah Price held Savannah State to only 14 points and 213 yards gained. Price attributed the win to perseverance.
“We told each other that we’re not going to give up because of the four streak loss,” Price said. “We just kept on each other, we never held back, we never looked down upon each other, we kept on each other, we held each other up and the results came to the game.”
The game was sealed at the end of the fourth quarter with a Rattler interception at their own one-yard line.
When asked about the win Wood said it was mostly due to preparation for the game and the team being focused in practice.
“It’s a good feeling we haven’t felt in a while, so (we’re) excited about the win, and looking forward to playing next week,” Wood said.
The Rattlers will play North Carolina Central for a conference matchup in Durham, N.C. on October 8.