Karsceal Turner – I Got NEXT!
When Florida A&M and Mississippi Valley State faced-off on Sept. 1 in the ninth installment of the MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney, it was the third meeting between the two HBCU programs. Their first meeting was back in 1990, a game FAMU won 28-13.
For the Florida A&M Rattlers, this game marks the team’s first under new head coach Earl Holmes, whose team finished with a 4-7 record last season. The Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils, under Karl Morgan, ended the 2012 season with a 5-4 mark.
Look kiddies, all that football talk was fine and well but the story for this game was the return of Florida A&M’s Marching 100. We’ll return to the game a bit later.
Twenty-one months had elapsed since the acclaimed band took to the field following the death of Robert Champion after the 2011 Florida Classic. The incident, which was ruled a homicide, left 14 band members charged with felonies. Several entered pleas of no contest, while others have pleaded not guilty.
The first of gavels levied against the University came in form of the indefinite suspension of the marching band, followed by the firing of then band director Julian White, and subsequently the resignation of then president James Ammons.
FAMU shows off that ‘NEW NEW’
This is a new year, brand new band (albeit smaller), new president in Dr. Larry Robinson, and new band director in Dr. Sylvester Young. Dr. Young has gone on record discounting any relation between quantity of a band and quality of that same band.
Now let me give you what you came to this column to read, my interpretation of the MEAC/SWAC Challenge. Everything you wanted at an HBCU venue was present; I the smell of sausage and onions hung in the air. Vendors offered everything from barbecued chicken and ribs, to fried fish and curry goat. EVERYTING YOU WANT MON!
Me? I headed to the press box at the Orlando Citrus Bowl after I flashed my PHOTO press pass. There were offerings of chicken wings, chicken fingers with sauces, and sliders. I threw down a coke on my way back down to the field. What awaited me down on that field could only been dreamt up by Blue Blues singer Robert Johnson who apparently in the 1930s ventured to a Mississippi cross roads at midnight to make a deal with the devil. He offered his eternal soul for Lucifer’s hellacious guitar tuning skills…and won! Well Dammit, the devil got his revenge to the tune of 143 degrees on the field of Astroturf in the Citrus Bowl.
There I was in Maroon shirt with some maroon Dickies shorts engulfed in a sea of that atrocious green and orange , I was beside myself but I made nice with the Rattler fans and staff because I was on a mission to cover the band’s return to the field just to say I was there.
Oh, did I not mention, I am a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University, owner of the MEAC championship crystal ball? Well, there ya go. Anyway, speaking now of the Marching 100, they truly didn’t sound like a group hastily put together. I’d have to say their performance was both inspirational and indicative of another rise to the top tier of HBCU bands (even with only three drum majors down from the nine they used to have at any given time. I must say, out of all the photos I took, there were only a handful of football action. I was heavy in the stands. Unfortunately, the title of “Baddest band in the land” is already claimed by a school in Daytona Beach.
MVSU also brought their band, “The Mean Green Marching Machine”. I’m no band officiano but I will credit their dancers, “The Satin Dolls,” as being a vision of a Black southern beauty. That being said, the MVSU band put on a decent halftime show but everyone was shooing them out of the way for a peek at the Marching 100.
I walked up to FAMU band director Dr. Sylvester Young and bid him ‘welcome back sir’. It felt good to reach out to another HBCU graduate. I found out later he is my fraternity brother, as is FAMUs Head Football coach Earl Holmes. The three of us are members of Kappa Alpha Psi. “Yo Nupe!”
A little MVSU History for you.
MVSU is located in Itta Bena, MS (pop 2,208). I don’t know if they’re burning crosses in 2013 but in June 1963, 45 residents of Itta Bena were arrested in Leflore county while marching to protest an attack on churches where voter registration drives were being held. My football buffs will acknowledge that Jerry Rice once played for the Delta Devils (from 1980–1984). Rice is without a doubt an all-time great among NFL receivers. Over the course of his 20-year career, Rice played more games than any non-placekicker or punter in NFL history, playing 303 games overall.
Jerry Rice retired in 2004 folks; he couldn’t help his alma mater when the Delta Devils got snake-bitten by the Rattlers 27-10. It was clear FAMU dominated.
Hot and steamy Battle under the Orlando sun
Both teams had respect for one another after meeting for this their third meeting ever. FAMU head coach Earl Holmes won his first contest as the permanent head coach of the Florida A&M Rattlers.
The Rattlers would be the first to “strike” after they capitalized on a MVSU punting error as the ball was snapped over the punter’s head, resulting in a 30-yard loss, giving the FAMU offense the ball on the MVSU 12-yard line.
Four plays later, FAMU quarterback Damien Fleming scored on a six-yard scamper with 10:50 remaining in the first quarter, giving the Rattlers a 7-0 lead after a Chase Varnadore PAT.
The Rattlers defense put in work in the first half and shut out the Delta Devils. It was actually looking as though the boys in orange and green were going to blank the Delta Devils, but MVSU was not about to travel 743 miles in 11 hours just to have their pointed tails shoved up their collective butts.
MVSU would score their first points of the game as Cherchen Galon connected on a 21-yard field goal, cutting FAMUs lead to 20-3 with 3:20 to go in the third quarter. The Delta Devils then scored their only TD of the game on a Jeremy Collins two-yard run with 10:21 left in the contest, making the score 20-10, in favor of FAMU, after the Galon made PAT.
Al-Terek McBurse would score the Rattlers final TD on a 14-yard run, for the 27-10 final with 1:11 left in the game, after the Varnadore made PAT. McBurse finished the contest as FAMUs leading rusher with 55 yards on six carries with one TD, followed by Omari Albert with 47 yards on 11 carries and one TD.
QB Damien Fleming tallied 110 yards through the air as he connected on eight passes on 18 attempts with one interception. Lenworth Lennon led the Rattlers receiving corps as he gained 85 yards on four receptions with his longest catch being for 35 yards.
Coach Holmes was happy with the effort he saw from his team, but feels they have to solidify the game plan and concentrate on working out the kinks. “The most important thing is to make your biggest improvement between the first and second game. It’s always easier to correct the guys after a win. We did some things well, but there are certainly some things we need to work on. We can now move forward after getting this first win under our belts,” Holmes said.
And all the fans of Rattler Nation including the marching band said Amen.
