COLUMBIA, S.C. – When Coach
Chennis Berry was hired to be the head football coach at Benedict College in February 2020, one of his early mantras was that the Tigers would chase A's, B's, C's and D's. That meant A's and B's in the classroom, championships and degrees.
In just two short years, he has already accomplished the A's and B's, as the overall GPA of football student-athletes has made tremendous improvements under Berry; and the team recognized more than 20 players on senior day, many of whom will graduate with degrees this spring, or have already graduated and are now working on a Master's degree.
The only box left to check is a championship. And the Tigers have that opportunity on Saturday, when they take on the Tuskegee Golden Tigers at 2 p.m. in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium for the 2022 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football championship, presented by Cricket.
The game will be broadcast on
ESPN3, with a tape-delay rebroadcast on ESPNU on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Live stats will be available
here.Tickets will be available at the gate.
"A's and B's in the classroom, that's non-negotiable," Berry said. "We want guys who love being students. C's is championships. We have an opportunity to compete for Benedict's first-ever championship in football. And degrees. The game of football will end one day. We have to teach these young men that you've got to ready for this game we call life. These four years will set them up for the next 40 years."
Earning that championship will not be an easy task. The Golden Tigers come in at 8-2, undefeated (7-0) in the West Division, and winners of their last eight games. Tuskegee comes in with a historic pedigree as the all-time winningest HBCU football program, and have won 29 SIAC championships, starting with its first title in 1917. After a brief down turn in the program, Tuskegee brought in Reginald Ruffin, the former highly successful coach at Miles, who took the Golden Bears to the last three SIAC championship games, winning two.
"Tuskegee has been a dominant program for years," Berry said. "Then they have a winning coach in Reginald Ruffin. He's going to have his football team ready to play. We have to play our best football."
Benedict, on the other hand, has never won a football championship, and has never won more than eight games in a season. The Tigers are riding a historic season and currently are ranked No. 9 nationally and No. 1 in the Super Region 2 rankings, which will determine NCAA playoff pairings.
"I don't think we've played our best football," Berry said. "We've had spurts where we've been really good on offense, or really good on defense or special teams. But to put all three phases together, I think we have a chance to be something really special."
