Albany State lost this past Saturday against University West Georgia in the NCAA playoff game. Unfortunately this means that their season is over, but undisputedly we had a great season. The team almost went undefeated (9-2, SIAC 7-0) this season to clinch the SIAC East division and become 2021 SIAC conference champions. This is the team’s 11th championship game title since 1990 and its first since 2013.
With such an impressive season for the Golden Rams, they were bound to have several players make the ALL-SIAC team this year.
ALL-SIAC FIRST TEAM
We had two offensive linemen make the SIAC First Team with # 50 Miquail Harvey and #77 KaTray Pringle. They made a big difference in helping our QB #3 Dionte Bonneau did not get sacked and make the throws he needed to.
On the other end of the field we had two more players on defense make the First Team. Defensive lineman, #7 Malik Barnes had an impressive first year. He had a total of 25 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. We also had our star linebacker, #30 Stephan Pierre on the First Team (see more info at the bottom).
Lastly our kicker, #19 Gabriel Ballinas, made the Special teams First Team with 3 out of 5 field Goals made. The longest FG was 31 yards. He also had 4 punts go for 50+ yards including 9 being inside the 20 yard line. Lastly he is 100% for points attempted.
ALL-SIAC SECOND TEAM
Another Lineman made All-SIAC, #75 Josh Simon, who assisted on keeping the QB protected throughout the season to throw to our ball catchers who also showed out to make the team as well.
Our Tight End, #11 Tyree Taylor had a total of 17 receptions and 213 reception yards. Wide Receiver, #17 Joe Shorter had 8 receiving catches, 133 yards, and 1 touchdown. As a kick returner also out of 8 attempts Shorter racked up 154 yards.
We had one Defensive Back, #5 Coemba Jones who had about 9 tackles and more than half of those were solo tackles in multiple games. In the game against SSU, he had 2.5 sacks for a loss of 11 yards.
ALL-SIAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
One of the most dominant players on the team, Linebacker, #30 Stephan Pierre racked up on the defensive honors side. He is a member of the First Team, Defensive Player of the Year, and Overall SIAC Player of the Year. Pierre’s stats justified the accolades he achieved this season. Out of 59 total tackles, 45 of them were solo tackles. He also recovered 3 fumbles for 41 yards as well.
ALL-SIAC COACH OF THE YEAR
After taking up the coaching job here at Albany State in 2017, Coach Gabe Giardina turned this football program around. Just to see the progression in the team, here are the end of the season records:
2017 ASU was OVR 6-4, SIAC 4-2
2018 ASU was OVR 7-4, SIAC 6-0
2019 ASU was OVR 7-4, SIAC 5-1 nearly becoming conference champions.
2020 no season due to COVID-19.
This year 2021, our record was 9-2, 7-0 which led us to be SIAC East Conference champions and All SIAC champions beating Miles College (who prevented us from being champs in 2019).
Since Coach Giardina has been at ASU he was able to garner 15+ players in the All-SIAC Honors including having Gabriel Ballinas named All-American in 2019 and Stephan Pierre as ALL-SIAC First Team, Defensive Player of the Year, and Overall Player of the Year.
If history showed us anything with Coach Giardina and ASU‘s football team is that they will keep on improving next year.
Congratulations to all players on SIAC 1st and 2nd team and thank you all for a great season.
*All Statistics Reported Are According To What Is On www.AsuGoldenRams.com Website*