Fairfield, Alabama-Edward Waters' offensive outburst in the opening 30 minutes of Thursday night's SIAC cross-divisional matchup against Miles proved to be just enough as the Tigers held off oa furious fourth quarter comeback to come away with a 22-16 road victory at Albert J. Sloan-Alumni Stadium.
The Golden Bears (1-8, 1-5 SIAC) cracked the scoreboard first with a 30-yard field goal on their opening drive to take an early 3-0 lead with 13:45 remaining in the first quarter. After an Edward Waters (3-6, 3-4 SIAC) three and out on their opening drive, Miles drove into Tiger territory before Dartrell Rolle stepped in front of a Golden Bear pass to earn his third inteception in the last two games. Tigers QB Jyron Russell began a 10 play, 97-yard drive that was capped off with his 22 yard touchdown to give the visitors a 6-3 lead.
Freshman K/P Christian Bartley started the scoring in the second quarter by connecting on his first career field goal from 38-yards out to extend the Edward Waters lead to 9-3. Junior RB Tyler King found the endzone from 13-yards out at the 2:38 mark of the quarter making it a 16-3 ballgame. EWU capped off the scoring as time expired in the quarter, when Russell found graduate RB
Spencer Carter down the seam for a 25-yard touchdown, giving Edward Waters a 22-3 halftime lead.
Both teams went scoreless in the third quarter, but Miles showed some resolve in the fourth with two touchdowns scored to bring them within six points at 22-16 with 1:31 remaining in the game. However, senior WR
Tyberious Horne was able to recoved an on-side kick from the Golden Bears and the Tigers were able to run out the clock to earn them their second consecutive victory and close out the road portion of their schedule.
Edward Waters finished Thursday night's matchup with 347 yards on 60 offensive plays (202 passing, 145 rushing), while Miles finished with 271 yards on 58 plays (146 passing, 125 rushing). The Tiger defense was able to force three turnovers in the contest with three interceptions from Rolle,
Vashaun Stockmann, and Diamante Howard. The unit also collected two sacks and a blocked field goal in the matchup as well.
Jyron Russell shined in the matchup going a season best 21-of-27 passing for 202 yards and a touchdown, while also adding 38 yards on seven rushes and a touchdown as well. Gregory Mango ended up leading the way for EWU on the ground with 42 yards on seven carries, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Through the air,
Spencer Carter was the Tigers' leader with four catches for 62 yards and a TD.
Defensively, Chase Powers led the way with nine tackles, including a half tackle for loss. Alabama native Quintorio Powell finished with six tackles, 2.5 for loss, and both Kamren Thomas and
Ahmaud Jordan each finished with four tackles a piece, while Jordan collected his first sack of the season.
The Tigers will finally return to the friendly confined of Glover Community Field and Stadium on Saturday, November 5th as they will celebrate Homecoming against new program, Atlantis University with kickoff set for 2:00pm.
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