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12 The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, July 19, 2023
oore
SSU Picked To
Finish Fifth In
SIAC
Aaron Kelton
Coming off of a sea
son in which the Savannah
State University football team
finished fifth in the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Con
ference standings, the Tigers
enter the 2023 season picked
to finish fifth again in the Pre
season Poll that was released at
the Annual SIAC Football Me
dia Day, which was held at the
College Football Hall of Fame
on July 12.
All nominations and
votes were submitted by head
coaches and sports information
directors.
Benedict College, the
defending SIAC champion,
has been selected to finish first
again in 2023. Albany State
University was picked to finish
second followed by Tuskegee
University, Fort Valley State
University and SSU to round
out the top five. Lane College
was picked to finish sixth fol
lowed Edward Waters Univer
sity, Miles College, Central
State University and Clark At
lanta University to round out
the top ten. The final three slots
were filled by Allen University
who was 11th, Kentucky State
University and Morehouse
College.
Last season, Savan
nah State lost to Benedict (24-
6) and Albany State (31-20) but
defeated Fort Valley State (28-
24). SSU has not played Tuske
gee since 2000 but is scheduled
to host the Golden Tigers on
October 21 for Homecoming.
Albany State, Tuske
gee, Kentucky State and More
house will all have new head
coaches for the upcoming sea
son.
Aaron Kelton enters
his second year over the Sa
vannah State program. In his
initial campaign, the Tigers
posted a 5-5 overall record and
a 3-4 mark in the SIAC.
Savannah State be
gins the 2023 season with
back-to-back trips to Florida.
The Tigers open the season
on September 2 in Lakeland
against Southeastern Univer
sity and then travel to Day
tona Beach to play Football
Championship Series opponent
Bethune-Cookman Universi
ty on Sept. 9. SSU plays their
home and SIAC opener on
Sept. 16 against Clark Atlanta
University at 6 p.m..
Four Tigers Named
To Preseason
All-Conference
Team
*Mr
Kyle Frazier
Four members of the
Savannah State football team
were named to the Preseason
Riyon Adams
All-SIAC Team during the
Annual SIAC Football Media
Day.
Earning preseason
honors were offensive linemen
Kyle Frazier and Riyon Adams,
running back Shamarcus Poole
and kicker Kenneth Lockhart.
Frazier, Adams and
Poole were selected with the
First Team while Lockhart was
picked for the Second Team.
Shamarcus Poole
Frazier, a junior, has
made the all conference team
his first two years of putting on
a Tiger uniform. The Augus
ta, Georgia native and cancer
survivor made the SIAC Sec
ond Team in 2021 and again in
2022.
Adams is a junior
from Vidalia, Georgia who
tips the scale at 6-foot-3 and
300 pounds. He played in eight
games last season.
Poole stepped into
the starting role last season as
a running back. Playing in all
ten contests, the junior from
Sandersville, Georgia finished
the season as the second-best
rusher on the team with 410
yards and a touchdown.
Lockhart, a senior
kicker/punter returns to the
team this season after miss-
Kenneth Lockhart
ing the 2022 campaign due to
ACL surgery. The Hinesville,
Georgia native was named
to the SIAC Second Team in
2021 as a punter. He was the
No. 1 punter in the SIAC and
was No. 20 in Division II, av
eraging 42.0 yards a punt. As a
kicker, he made six of ten held
goal attempts with a long of 44
yards and made made 32 of 35
extra point attempts.
All nominations and
votes were submitted by head
coaches and sports information
directors.
Savannah State
Receives Votes In
Preseason Poll
The HBCU Gameday
staff recently released their
preseason D2/NAIA poll for
the upcoming 2023 football
season.
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Virginia Union of the
CIAA was voted number one
in the poll with 66 votes while
Benedict of the SIAC was sec
ond with 60 votes. CIAA teams
Fayetteville State (57) and
Bowie State (41) were third
and fourth while Albany State
of the SIAC rounds out the top
five with 40 votes.
Fort Valley State was
close behind with 38 votes to
claim sixth place while Tuske
gee (31) was seventh and Vir
ginia State (23) was eighth.
There was a three
way tie for ninth place. Earning
six votes apiece were Bluefield
State, Shaw and Lane.
Receiving votes but
not making the top ten were
Savannah State, Johnson C.
Smith, Elizabeth City State,
Langston and Livingstone.
Langston is the lone
team on the list that competes
on the NAIA level. Of the 16
teams mentioned, nine teams
hail from the CIAA while the
SIAC has six schools repre
sented.
SIAC Announces 2023 College Football
Schedule on ESPN Platforms
Photo Courtesy of Savannah State Athletics
The Southern Inter
collegiate Athletic Conference
returns to ESPN for the third
straight year this fall with 22
college football games to air
exclusively across ESPN plat
forms, including ESPNU and
ESPN+.
Savannah State Uni
versity will appear on ESPN+
twice during the season.
The Tigers will play
Clark Atlanta on September 16
at Theodore A. Wright Stadium
at 6 p.m. The 2023 SSU Home
coming match-up with Tus
kegee University on October
21 will also appear on ESPN+
with a 3 p.m. kickoff.
The 2023 lineup
features exciting and histor
ical match-ups like the sea-
son-opening Boeing Red
Tails Classic, the Fountain
City Classic, and the More-
house-Tuskegee Classic, as
well as the highly-anticipated
SIAC Football Championship
Game on November 11.
The season-ending
SIAC Football Championship
Game on November 11, pit
ting the top two teams against
each other based on winning
percentage in conference play,
will be streamed live.
First Savannah Bananas Bobblehead
Unveiled
On Friday, July 14th,
the National Bobblehead Hall
of Fame and Museum unveiled
the first Savannah Bananas
Bobblehead. The officially li
censed, limited-edition bobble
head features Split, the mascot
of the Savannah Bananas. The
special edition bobblehead is
being produced by the National
Bobblehead Hall of Fame and
Museum, an official licensee of
the Savannah Bananas.
Standing on a ba
nana-shaped base bearing his
name with the Savannah Ba
nanas’ logo, the Split bobble
head, sporting his trademark
sunglasses, has his arms out
stretched and is wearing a yel
low #0 jersey with a cape. The
bobbleheads, which will be in
dividually numbered, are only
available through the Nation
al Bobblehead Hall of Fame
and Museum’s Online Store at
https://bit.ly/3NPjtkM.
Founded in 2016, the
Savannah Bananas have been
heralded as the “World Famous
Baseball Circus,’’ “The Great
est Show in Sports’’ and “the
Harlem Globetrotters of Base
ball’’, have been featured by
ESPN, The Wall Street Journal
and Sports Illustrated because
of their on-field antics and viral
videos. According to the team
website: “What makes us dif
ferent? We are not your typical
baseball team. We are differ
ent. We take chances. We toe
the line. We test the rules. We
challenge the way things are
supposed to be.’’ The Bananas
implemented some deviations
from standard baseball rules,
otherwise known as “Banana
Ball” - the fastest and most en
tertaining game of baseball.
Until 2022, the Ba
nanas competed in the Coastal
Plain League’s West Division,
where they won three Petitt
Cup championships. The Ba
nanas were named the league’s
organization of the year in
2016 and 2017. The team,
which plays its home games at
Grayson Stadium, has sold out
every game since the first game
in Savannah and every city on
the Banana Ball World Tour.
An ESPN+ miniseries about
the team called “Bananaland”
was released in August 2022.
In early April of
2016, Split was announced as
the name of the Savannah Ba
nanas mascot after the team
received 1,200 suggestions in
a “Name the Mascot” contest.
Jennifer Terry from Norman
Park, Georgia, was the first fan
to submit Split on the morn
ing the contest was announced
and was declared the winner.
Standing 7 feet tall, Split is the
World’s Largest Banana and
the most physically fit with six-
pack abs and giant biceps.
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