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by Hal Lamar Albany State 32,CAU 29-Greatest game they ever lostMinutes after Albany State University nudged past Clark-Atlanta University in a 32-29 overtime win, Panther interim coach Keith Higdon was surrounded by his team, CAU President Carlton Brown and fans getting pats on the back. For losing? Well, consider this. Most football pundits (this writer included) didn’t give CAU a snowball’s chance in hell of defeating the Rams despite having so-called home field advantage. ASU blew into Atlanta the only undefeated historically black college in the nation at 6-0, the top team in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) ,2nd best team in Region 2 of the NCAA, 10th best in the NCAA’s top 25 poll for Division II colleges and ranked among the top ten black college teams by the Sheridan Broadcasting Network. Best game the team ever lost? “Yes, you can say that,” smiled CAU’s Keith Higdon in his maiden voyage as a head coach who had less than a week to prepare the Panthers following the firing of Ted Bahhur.
Brown, who gave Bahhur his pink slip last week, addressed the team following the nail biter. “ I am proud of your effort. I am proud of your enthusiasm. This is why we did what we did.” What the team did Saturday was scare the shoulder pads off their visitors who came within seconds of being upset. The first half of play , however, weren’t encouraging for CAU which got smashed statistically. Their offense couldn’t muster one first down, starting quarterback Mark Wright completed only two passes for six yards and their celebrated running back Winston Thompson rushed 10 times for only 3 yards. In fact, Thompson rushed for a total of only 13 yards on 23 carries,making the first time this season the SIAC’s leading rusher was held to less than 100 yards. Albany State led 17-6 at the break. The second half was a different story. The Panthers actually outscored ASU 19-9 with Thompson rushing for two of the team’s three touchdowns. On their final drive of the fourth period, the Panthers recovered an Albany fumble at the Ram 18. Two penalties at the wrong time for ASU kept the drive alive and allowed Clark-AU to eat up most of the 5:16 left. At 1:42, the CAU drive finally ended with a one yard plunge by Thompson. Three point-after-touchdown attempts by CAU in the game had failed but their third attempt at a two point PAT was successful. CAU led by three, 26-23. But with only 1:37 to work with, ASU quarterback AJ McKenna, benched at the start of the fourth quarter, returned and led the Rams 53 yards from their own 29. A stiff CAU defense kept ASU out the end zone , forcing them to attempt a 35 yard field goal. Senior Juan Bongarra’s kick sailed through the uprights just as regulation time ended, sending the contest into overtime
“The idea was to use the clock to our advantage, work our way down the field and take the field goal if time was a factor,” said McKenna who threw for 231 yards. He was also sacked three times. “We were trying to score and we had that one sack that backed us up a little bit but the receivers made great plays, the line made great blocks and we came out with a tough win.” McKenna’s quest to score in the crunch did come in overtime but not before Clark-Atlanta dented the scoreboard first with a 21 yard field goal by freshman Joshua DuBois. They led 26-26 but it was short lived. Albany State went one better when their turn to try and score came. On the second play from scrimmage, McKenna found freshman Janel Jones on the end of a 14 yard touchdown strike for the game winning score. ASU left the ATL 7-0 but also left a CAU team justifiably proud of itself. “ We made adjustments (in the second half) and saw what they were doing,” said Higdon. “We figured them out and began playing the type of football that we are capable of playing.” AROUND THE SIAC: Benedict and Morehouse were weekend homecoming spoilers. The Tigers from South Carolina spoiled Kentucky State’s annual festivities with a 20-15 win, Benedict outscored KSU 21-7 in the second half…. Morehouse, meanwhile, was in Jackson, Tennessee spoiling things for winless Lane College. A penalty which nullified a 2 point conversion attempt for Lane allowed the Maroon Tigers to escape with a 35-33 win…. Miles College lost the fifth of six games with a 20-0 whitewash by Stillman …. Southern used a good second half to defeat Fort Valley 55-23 and win their homecoming.. -0-
CAU running back Winston Thompson fell short of his usual 100-plus yard rushing performance. Notwithstanding Albany State’s defense (which I saw as no tougher than Tuskegee’s), one wonders if there is a correlation between the 13 yards he ran on October 17 and the dismissal of his running backs coach Ronnie Blackmon. The day after CAU President Brown fired Head Coach Ted Bahhur, Blackmon was reportedly told by interim coach Keith Higdon that his services were no longer needed. But Blackmon, who has coached extensively at the high school and college level, took it in stride. “I respect Coach (Higdon) . He had to make a decision. I do wish I’d had an opportunity to finish out the season with Winston. He’s an outstanding young man, on and off the field.” Blackmon said he now hopes to pursue his goal of becoming a head coach at the college level….. -0- Although Higdon isn’t ruled out in getting the permanent CAU head coaching job, the scuttlebutt is that administrators are also smoking over other candidates. We’ve heard the names of former Fort Valley head coach Deondra Clark and Concordia-Selma Alabama head man Shepherd Skanes dropped. The school might also consider some home grown like one time CAU asistant coach Robert Haygood, currently directing youth sports activities for the city of Atlanta……….. -0- John David Washington , the former Morehouse College running back and son of Denzel, is playing with the new United Football League. He is on the roster of the California Redwoods. The UFL is a start up pro league with four teams
This week’s SIAC games and INSIDE picks Got an item or comment?
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