The Delta State Statesmen defeated the Florida Institute of Technology Panthers 58-20 in a football game. The Statesmen got off to a slow start but scored touchdowns in the first quarter to take the lead. The game remained close in the second quarter until the Statesmen scored two more touchdowns to take a lead into halftime. In the second half, the Statesmen defense dominated FIT and allowed only one touchdown, while the Statesmen offense scored four more touchdowns to pull away for the victory. Tyler Sullivan passed for 456 yards and 5 touchdowns to lead Delta State to the win.

1. Sports The Delta Statement Thursday, October 9, 2014B1
Delta State defeats Florida Institute of Technology
D’Juan Bellaire was the rushing leader for the Statesmen in the game against FIT. Photo by Elisabetta Zengaro
O.B. Taylor
Assistant Sports Editor
The Delta State Statesmen
continued their hot start
of the 2014 season by
defeating Florida Institute
of Technology 58-20 on Oct. 2
at Pirate Stadium in Melbourne,
Fla.
The Statesmen got off to
a poor start on their fi rst drive.
Redshirt-sophomore quarterback
Tyler Sullivan failed to get
his offense going because of
pressure from the Florida Tech
defense.
The next drive resulted in
a Florida Tech score. Panthers
quarterback Tyler Bass threw a
5-yard touchdown pass to Aaron
George, which put their side up
7-0 at the 8:28 mark in the fi rst
quarter.
Delta State tied the game
when Sullivan threw a 22-yard
touchdown pass to senior wide
receiver Ricky Hunt at the 5:38
mark in the fi rst quarter.
The beginning of the second
quarter was dominated by the
defenses. Both offenses couldn’t
get things going or couldn’t fi nd
the end zone.
With 8:48 left in the second
quarter, Florida Tech kicker
Brion Ashley missed a 22-yard
fi eld goal, which could have put
his team in the lead.
The next drive after the
missed fi eld goal, Sullivan threw
a 64-yard pass to Hunt which
ended up at the Florida Tech
5-yard line. Hunt was tackled by
a Florida Tech defender to stop a
touchdown.
On the next play, Sullivan
scrambled 5 yards for a
touchdown, which put Delta
State to a 14-7 lead at 6:59 mark.
On the next drive, Florida
Tech scored a touchdown when
running back Trevor Sand ran 20
yards to the end zone, but Ashley
missed the extra point which
made the score 14-13 in favor of
Delta State at the 3:58 mark.
The next drive resulted
in a Delta State touchdown,
when Sullivan threw a 79-yard
touchdown pass to junior wide
receiver Casey Osborne putting
the Statesmen to a 20-13 lead
with 3:00 minutes left in the fi rst
half.
Vince Sciorrotta’s extra
point was blocked by the Florida
Tech special team unit after
Osborne scored.
Florida Tech scored on the
next drive when quarterback
Mark Cato threw a 44 yard
touchdown pass to Xavier
Milton. It tied the game at 20-20
with 1:08 left in the fi rst half.
Sadly, it was the last major
effort that Florida Tech had in the
game.
Delta State took a 23-20
lead at halftime when Sciorrotta
kicked a 21-yard fi eld goal with
no time left in the fi rst half.
The Statesmen came in the
second half looking to destroy
the Panthers for good. Florida
Tech did not know what was to
come.
The Statesmen’s stingy
defense led by senior defensive
lineman Diego Lubin, senior
linebacker Rory Island, and
junior defensive back Jon Knox
came into the second half to
crush the Florida Tech offense.
On the fi rst drive of the
second half, the Delta State
defense crushed the Florida Tech
offense forcing them to punt.
A few moments later on
Delta State’s fi rst drive of the
second half, Sullivan threw a 31-
yard pass to Justin Leavy. The
junior receiver ran the ball past
midfi eld to the Florida Tech’s 49-
yard line.
A few seconds later,
Leavy scored a touchdown
when he caught a 49-yard pass
from Sullivan, which put the
Statesmen up 30-20 at the 11:31
mark in the third quarter.
When Florida Tech had
the ball after the Delta State
touchdown, the Panthers did
not know what to do as they
continued to get crushed by the
Delta State defense.
During the drive, Cato
was intercepted by Statesmen
defensive back Knox which was
returned for 9 yards to Florida
Tech’s 31-yard line.
After two failed passes
on their second drive of the
second half, Delta State scored
a touchdown at the 9:31 mark of
the third quarter when Sullivan
threw a 41-yard pass to Leavy.
It made the score 37-20 Delta
State.
At the 7:29 mark, Sullivan
threw another touchdown pass
when he connected 4 yards to
James Johnson during a fi rst and
goal situation. It resulted in a 44-
20 Statesmen lead.
Things went from bad to
worse for Florida Tech. On 2nd
down and 10 with the ball on
their own 21-yard line, Cato
completed a 2-yard pass to Collin
O’Neal.
After the pass was
completed, defensive back Trey
Shaw forced a fumble which
was recovered by Lubin on the
Florida Tech 29-yard line. It
occurred at the 7:00 mark of the
third quarter.
After Delta State recovered
the fumble, they scored a
touchdown when sophomore
running back D’Juan Bellaire ran
for 12 yards to the end zone. It
made the score 51-20 Delta State
with 6:01 left in the third quarter.
Lakyn Cryder scored two goals and also had an assist, earning GSC Freshman of the Week. Photo by Elisabetta Zengaro
Lady Statesmen roll past Talladega College
Delta State golf team finishes 16th
Florian Mondoloni
Sports Editor
The Statesmen fi nished in
16th place, at the AFLAC
Cougar Invitational
at Columbus State
University in Columbus, Ga., on
Sept. 29-30.
The competition was held
on the 6,515-yard Country Club
of Columbus golf course. The
team fi nished with a score of
892, which was 40 over par, 852.
The three top spots were earned
by Lee University with 851, West
Georgia with 852 and Columbus
State with 855.
The rest of the top 10
was composed from four to
10 of Florida Tech (859/ 7),
UNC Pembroke (863/ 11),
North Alabama (869/ 17),
Clayton State (871, 19), Florida
Southern and Limestone tied
(875/ 23).
The Green-and-White
team was composed of Jack
Byrd, Chad Cupples, Brad
Thornton, Alex Clark and Reed
Lindsey. Together, the players
made 292 on the fi rst round,
296 on the second and 304 on
the third one.
The Statesmen will return
to action on Oct. 20-21 at the
University of North Alabama,
in Florence, Ala., for the TVA
Credit Union Classic.
In the beginning of the
fourth quarter, Florida Tech
looked to get things going in the
game. They failed to get them
going as the Statesmen defense
crushed their push to the end
zone.
Delta State scored their fi nal
touchdown of the game when
Eddie McCadney ran 3 yards to
the end zone at the 9:51 mark to
close out a 58-20 win.
After the victory, the Delta
State side celebrated in the
locker room with enthusiasm,
momentum, and joy. Head coach
Todd Cooley was pleased about
his side’s play in the second half
which led them to victory.
Sullivan completed 24 out
of 41 passes for 456 yards and
fi ve touchdowns. He wasn’t
sacked in the game.
Sullivan is looking to
continue his spectacular
performance this season as he
attempts to become the top passer
in the Gulf South Conference.
For the wide receivers,
Leavy caught four passes for 107
yards and two touchdowns. Hunt
caught four passes for 114 yards
and one touchdown.
Osborne caught fi ve
passes for 111 yards and one
touchdown. Junior receiver Pat
Bethley caught three passes for
59 yards.
McCadney ran the ball
11 times for 38 yards and one
touchdown. Bellaire ran the ball
eight times for 38 yards and one
touchdown.
On the defensive side,
Lubin earned two sacks in the
game while linebackers Randall
Boyd and Landry Tullo each
sacked the quarterback once.
Senior linebacker Ryan Self
joined in collecting an assist
sack.
Defensive back Richard
Nash led the Statesmen tacklers
collecting nine in the game,
while Lubin collected fi ve.
Knox had fi ve tackles brining
him to 27 for the season, making
him the leading tackler on the
team.
The Statesmen will return
to Parker Field-McCool Stadium
tonight to take on Shorter.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
DSU cross country finishes fourth
Florian Mondoloni
Sports Editor
The Delta State cross
country team fi nished
fourth at the Jacksonville
State University 5K on
Oct. 4 at Jacksonville, Ala.
The Jacksonville State
University 5K was divided into
two sections. In one group,
called the Red Division there
were Division 1 schools and
in the other group, the White
Division, there were schools
from Divisions 2 and 3.
The Red Division saw
Georgia State win the race with
16 points. Emory University
won the White Division with
24 points. From second to
fourth in the white division,
were Columbus State (41),
Birmingham Southern (95) and
Delta State (96).
The best Green-and-White
runner for this race was senior
Tressa Lamb, who fi nished
18th overall in 19:44. Next
best ranking for the team was
freshman Maria Arzate with a
29th fi nish, thanks to her time of
20:34. This time permitted her
to break a personal record by 16
seconds.
At the 36th and 37th places
were two Lady Statesmen,
freshman Tori McDonald and
sophomore Anna Poteet with
times respectively of 21:01 and
21:04.
Two last runners who
represented DSU were Hannah
Register, who claimed the 46th
place in 21:42 and Madison Nash
who fi nished 48th with a time of
21:45.
The Lady Statesmen will
return to action on Oct. 11, traveling
to Orlando, Fla., for the Disney
World Cross Country Classic 5K.
DSU Athletics
Lakyn Cryder scored two
goals and assisted on
another to help the Delta
State University women’s
soccer team capture a 6-0 win
over Talladega College Saturday
at Delta Field. Delta State
improved to 2-7 overall on the
season and will travel to play
Millsaps College on Monday at
4 p.m. in Jackson, Mississippi.
Talladega College fell to 2-4
overall.
The six goals were the most
goals by a DSU team under
current head coach Paul Babba
and the most goals tallied by the
Lady Statesmen since a 10-0 win
over Robert Morris in 2008.
Delta State scored four fi rst
half goals with the fi rst two goals
coming less two minutes apart.
Rebecca Deegan’s penalty kick
was saved but Tais Cotta scored
on the rebound in the 14th minute
and Taylor Scoffi eld tallied a
goal off a corner from Crowder
in the 15th minute to give DSU
a 2-0 lead.
Erin Tucker tucked home
a goal off a defl ection in the
25th minute and Cryder fi nished
the fi rst half scoring beat two
defenders and found a wide open
net in the 30th minute for a 4-0
halftime lead.
Catherine Thomson
added a goal in the 76th
minute and Cryder scored her
second goal off a feed from
Kellie Hendle in the 79th
minute.
The Lady Statesmen out
shot the Tornadoes 25-2, 13-2
in the first half and 12-0 in
the second half and 17-2 in
shots on goal.
Katie Swaine made two
saves in the nets for Delta
State while TC’s Dammie
Akano saved 11 of the 17
shots on goal she faced.
Childers leads Statesmen over Talladega
Bryce Childers scored both goals of the game. His performance earned him GSC Player of the Week. Photo by Elisabetta Zengaro
DSU Athletics
Delta State University
claimed a 2-0 victory
over Talladega College
on Saturday afternoon
courtesy of two goals from Bryce
Childers. Delta State improved to
4-6 on the year.
Childers, a 6-3 forward,
scored goals in the early and late
minutes of the game, his second
and third tallies of the year.
The Hendersonville, Tennessee
native scored in the opening
minutes at the 5:28 mark when
Pedro Verissimo fed the ball to
Childers on a through ball. The
score remained titled in favor of
DSU, 1-0, heading into the half.
The lone goal in the fi rst
half was the only offense in the
contest until the late minutes
of the game. Near the close left
wing, Childers passed the ball
to Amine Rahmani right in front
of the net. Without an open
shot, Rahmani dished it back to
Childers who found the back of
the net for his second goal in the
89th minute. The Statesmen were
able to hold on to earn the win,
2-0.
Delta State held the
advantage in shots 23-7 as well
as shots on goal 11-4. Jacob
Hauenstein earned the shutout
victory, grabbing four saves.
With the win over the
Tornadoes, Delta State surpassed
the number of wins from last
season. Head coach Andy
Robertson was pleased with his
team’s solid effort. “We had a lot
of chances to take a larger lead
and perseverance paid off.”
The Green-and-White
continue a homestretch on Friday,
Oct. 10 when the Statesmen take
on Christian Brothers. Kickoff is
set for 3:30 p.m.