JACKSON, Tenn. —
Brinley Vandiver threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns and
Miles never trailed en route to its first victory under head coach
Chris Goode with a 23-13 win over
Lane Saturday at Lane Field. The Golden Bears (1-6, 1-3 SIAC) broke a seven-game losing streak behind a defense that held the Dragons to 246 total yards, forced two turnovers and had four sacks.
Miles has had solid starts to games for most of the season and it was not much different against the Dragons. On the first two drives of the game, the Golden Bears were able to find the end zone to open a 13-0 advantage.
Javontae Cooper forced a fumble on Lane's first drive of the game that was recovered by
Ashton Whitfield. The offense methodically converted that turnover into points by going 57 yards in 11 plays, converting two third downs and a fourth down on the drive, which culminated in a 15-yard scoring pass from Vandiver to
Marquez Mobley.
Lane would drive the ball to the Miles 3-yard line in the second quarter but facing fourth-and-goal at the 5, the Dragons were stuffed when
Jaylon Ruffin got a big tackle for loss on running back John Christian that turned the ball over to the Golden Bears. The offense, again, responded with a long drive, going 91 yards in 10 plays. Vandiver hit three big pass plays - 18 yards to
James Gatewood, 36 yards to
Glen Williams, and 27 yards to Mobley - before running back
Roderick Thomas capped the drive with a 2-yard scoring run. His fifth touchdown of the season gave Miles a two-touchdown lead with 4:47 left before the half.
The Dragons would get a late touchdown for a 13-6 halftime score but Miles struck big to start the third quarter. Vandiver connected with Williams for a 40-yard touchdown pass to up the lead to 20-6 at the 10:41 mark. It was the fourth consecutive game with a touchdown reception for Williams, all of them for at least 40 yards, and he finished with three catches for 96 yards, which broke his string of 100-yard receiving efforts at three games.
Lane continued to battle, getting a receiving touchdown by Christian early in the four quarter. But Miles Tory connected on a 30-yard field goal with just more than eight minutes remaining to make it a two-possession game. The defense finished the job on the final two possessions, getting a combined sack by
Khalil Golden and
Christian Lee to force a turnover on downs, then a game-sealing interception by
Curtis Bryant with less than a minute remaining to close out the Dragons.
Mobley had eight catches for a career-high 102 yards,
Robert Williams had eight tackles (five solo) and 1.5 sacks, and
Carson Pritchett added seven tackles (all solo) for Miles, which hosts Clark Atlanta for Homecoming on Oct. 18. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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ABOUT THE SOUTHERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SIAC)
The SIAC is a NCAA athletic conference consisting primarily of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with headquarters in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The SIAC includes 15 member institutions (Albany State University, Allen University, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Edward Waters University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Savannah State University, Spring Hill College, and Tuskegee University), which are located within a contiguous seven-state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio). The SIAC sponsors nine men's and seven women's sports and is a proud member of the NCAA Division II. For more information, visit www.thesiac.com.