MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Miles head coach Reginald Ruffin has been looking for his team to play a complete game all season long. In the most important game of the season, the Golden Bears finally delivered.
Cedric Poole returned the opening kickoff 90 yards to set up a score, running back Jamarcus Nanceran for a career-high 145 yards and two touchdowns and the defense harassed Albany State quarterback Caleb Edmonds all night en route to a 20-7 victory in the SIAC Championship Game.
The win was the sixth straight for Miles (7-4), which avenged a 29-16 loss to the Golden Rams (6-4) on Oct. 3 and secured the second league title for the Golden Bears and first since 2011.
“We stalled a little bit offensively and our defense bent but they didn’t break,” said head coach Reginald Ruffin. “We came up with the big plays when we needed to. The resiliency that these guys have. They never gave up and that’s so important.”
Miles may have received a little help from the officials early in the game. After Miles had taken a 10-0 in the first quarter 20-yard field goal and 2-yard scoring run from Nance, Edmonds broke free down the sideline on the first play of the second quarter and appeared to have scored on a 25-yard run. The officials, though, ruled he was out at the 1-yard line – a yard Albany State would never get.
After three tries to punch it in, the golden Rams settled for a field goal attempt that missed right.
“We feed off the defense. They had a tremendous effort. They just kept stopping them and kept stopping them,” Nance said. “Then, they’d come to the sideline and get us up. We just all came together as a team, which was our goal from the very beginning.”
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