In their second home-night game in school history, the Tuskegee Golden Tigers repeated history, coming out on the winning side once again with a 20-17 win over the Benedict Tigers.
Tuskegee improves its record to 2-2 overall with the win, including a perfect 2-0 mark against the SIAC.
Meanwhile, this marks Benedict’s first loss to a team not named Albany State since losing to Fort Valley State on November 2, 2024.
The Golden Tigers began the game strong with an efficient opening offensive drive, thanks to a strong led by Ja’Khael Rowser, who finished the game with 125 rushing yards on 20 attempts.
They punctuated the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run by quarterback Bryson McGrew, to take a 6-0 lead (missed the extra point).
Things began to get sloppy for the Golden Tigers for the remainder of the first half, committing four turnovers, including an interception on a Hail Mary attempt on the final play.
However, while the Tuskegee defense would bend to the Benedict run game, they did not break, only surrendering three points to take a 6-3 lead into the second half.
Benedict’s offense began to turn things around as the second half got started, scoring on the opening drive on a three-yard pass connection from Jett Peddy to Jayson Salkey.
Tuskegee then returned the favor with a passing touchdown of its own from McGrew to Nasir Powell.
As the third quarter came to a close, the Tigers got a boost from sophomore running back Christopher Johnson, producing big bruising runs to put them at the two-yard line to enter the final period.
As the game resumed, Johnson punctuated the drive with a touchdown to give Benedict a 16-13 lead.
After forcing a Benedict three-and-out, the Golden Tigers got the ball back with 9:21 remaining, looking to pull back in front.
Following a key fourth-down conversion, Tuskegee got the go-ahead score it was looking for with Khalib Johnson taking a shot to the end zone, finding Preston Parker, who made a spectacular diving catch for the touchdown to take the lead with 5:53 left on the clock.
Approaching the two-minute timeout, Benedict continued to give the ball to Johnson, running through defenders to put the offense inside the 10-yard line with a chance to tie or take the lead.
However, the Tigers looked to their passing game while facing third and seven, leading to a pass being batted and intercepted.
Tuskegee would pick up the first down to effectively seal the win.
