Wolves Have Rams for Homecoming

Note to self, never accept an invitation from a pack of wolves. West Georgia posted 41 points on the Golden Rams before anybody had a sip of sweet tea. The Wolves ran away with a 48-16 Homecoming win over Albany State at Ra-Lin Field.

There were no residual effects of last week’s loss to Delta State lingering around the Wolves locker room. West Georgia rolled up 509 total yards of offense while limiting Albany State to a mere 207 total yards. “The things that hurt us last week and cost us that game did not happen this game,” said Dean.

Sophomore quarterback Willie Candler completed 21 of 29 passes to eight different receivers for four touchdowns. He also rushed for a touchdown.

Execution in the red zone was a big difference this week. West Georgia scored five times on five visits to the red zone. “We got them on their heels with the tempo,” said Candler. Seven Wolves players scored touchdowns against the Golden Rams.

The Wolves defense limited the Golden Rams’ offense to 22 plays and 40 yards in the first half. Albany State quarterback Chancellor Johnson looked uncomfortable running the read option. The 6 foot 5 inch, 240-pound freshman looked like Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton only when he was throwing the ball. On 14 rushing attempts, the Newnan High product lost 15 of the 19 yards he gained. “You watch him on film and he gets hit but he falls forward for 2 yards,” said Dean. “ he wasn’t doing that very much today. We were knocking him backward and again that’s guys chasing and running to the ball.”

West Georgia’s defense came ready to play racking up 4 sacks, 26 negative tackle yards, one forced fumble, and most importantly 4 out of 15 third down conversions. Sophomore defensive end Chad Price, who led the Wolves’ defense with seven tackles, attributed the defense’s success to a good week of practice. “We had good pre-snap reads helping us to know what is pass and what is run,” said the Brookwood High product.

Without Kelan Fraise’s 60-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, the Golden Rams would have only had 60 yards rushing on the day. Each time Johnson went down the line there was a gang of Wolves in front of him stringing out the play. “ In practice, we were practicing either chasing hard on the back side or on the front side you gotta run flat and play inside out to make them go outside so that our guys on the edge coming down can make the play,” said sophomore defensive end Chad Price.

Johnson, nor his replacement Billy Cobb, had much time to throw. The stat sheet doesn’t show how many times or how many of the Wolves’ front four put paws on the ASU quarterbacks. Almost as soon as Cobb entered the game in the third quarter, junior defensive end Rontravius Byron (Houston County) hit him from the blind side.

When Johnson was given time he delivered. A fumble by J.J. Jones on a punt return in the third quarter gave the Golden Rams first and 10 at the Wolves 20. On second down, Johnson stood tall in the pocket finding tight end Christopher Hunt down the middle of the field for a 17-yard touchdown.