Title image via Alabama State Football
Courtesy of Alabama State Athletics
6
TUS
34
Winner ASU
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TUS | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| ASU | 21 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 34 |
Led by a dominant defensive showing along with career days by Kareem Key and Robert McMin on offfense, Alabama State University knocked off the Golden Tigers 34-6 in th 100th Turkey Day Classic on Thursday afternoon.
Alabama State held the Tuskegee air attack to 93 passing yards and 138 yards on the ground while extending its string of quarters without allowing a touchdown to nine straight.
Keyed completed 12-of-18 passes with a career-high 331 yards and four touchdowns while Robert McMinncaught four passes for a career-high 152 yards and two touchdowns on offense.
The victory improved Alabama State’s record to 7-5 securing a third straight winning season under Head Coach Eddie Robinson Jr., The last time Alabama State had three straight winning seasons came under Head Coach Reggie Barlow. Barlow led the Hornets to five straight winning seasons from 2010-2015.
A.J. Gates led all Hornets rushers with 45 yards in the contest, picking up 15 yards per carry. Gates also added 57 receiving yards. Jalen Jones also added 36 yards on the ground, averaging 18 yards per carry, as well as 87 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Amon Scarbrough showed out for the Alabama State defense, totaling five tackles and one interception. Tre Phillips added one interception and Treqwan Thomashad four tackles, 1.0 TFL, and one sack in the win.
The Hornets forced two turnovers in Thursday’s contest, with Alabama State turning those takeaways into three points. The Alabama State offense did a good job prolonging drives, converting on 44.4 percent of third-down attempts.
Alabama State’s defense held up against Tuskegee’s offense, giving up 231 total yards. The Hornets kept Tuskegee under 150 yards on both the ground and through the air, allowing 93 passing and 138 rushing yards. The Hornets defense disrupted the Tuskegee passing game on the way to pulling down two interceptions and breaking up four Golden Tigers passes.HOW IT HAPPENED
Alabama State took a 7-0 lead over Tuskegee after scoring the game’s first points on the opening drive of the game.The Hornets then extended their lead to 14-0 with another score.
Alabama State then added a touchdown with 5:45 left in the first quarter to make it a 21-0 lead.The Hornets continued to extend their lead after Tuskegee closed the gap to 21-6, scoring again to go on top 28-6.
Alabama State continued to build its advantage, scoring again with 4:30 left in the third quarter to go on top 31-6.The Hornets kept scoring, tacking on a field goal to extend their advantage to 34-6. Neither team scored again in the game.GAME NOTES
- Alabama State outgained Tuskegee 478-231, including a 331-93 advantage through the air.
- The Hornets scored first with 13:07 remaining in the first quarter improving to 15-4 under Robinson when socring first.
- Alabama State’s defense closed the season with nine straight quarters without allowing a touchdown.
- Demarkus Cunningham led the Hornets with nine tackles.
- ASU’s offense finished the year with 2028 rushing. Alabama State’s last 2000-yard rushing season dates to 2019, when the Hornets rushed for 2,805 yards and 27 touchdowns.
- The ASU offensie set a season-high for total yards with 478 yards.
- The Hornets collected eight tackles for loss and added three sacks on defense.
- Keye completed 66.7% of his passes on the day, going 12-for-18 while averaging 18.4 yards per attempt.
- Raequan Beal led the Golden Tigers passing attack, completing nine of his 20 attempts for 86 yards with two interceptions.
- Johnny Morris led the Tuskegee rushing attack with 88 yards.
