It was a rainy, windy day in Wilberforce, Ohio. The center of McPerson Stadium , grass was once present, became a muddy quagmire that bogged down both offenses. The conditions limited the teams to less than 300 yards of offense between them ( 155 for Clark-Atlanta and 100 for Central State) and only 14 first downs ( 10 for CAU and only 4 for CSU) in the game.
When Clark-Atlanta reached Central’s 21 only to be stuffed on a 4th and 2, that ended their only real scoring threat in the first half. The first half would end in a scoreless, muddy struggle at 0-0.
The Marauders defense snuffed out another Panther 4th down attempt when they tried to convert from their own 34 yard line. The CSU took over from there and after a 30-yard completion from quarterback Trent Mays to tight end Robert Corbin, Jr, running back Jerry Lanier would take into the endzone for the only score of the contest.
CAU would mount another scoring threat late in the third quarter when they reached the CSU 20-yard line. The drive was stymied by a seven-yard loss on a sack by Eric-Michael Smith on third down and then Jerry Drakar could not hang on to a pass on fourth down that would have given the Panthers the first down. Hanging on to the football was an issue for CAU, as they fumbled 12 times, losing three of them.
Central State would use their running game to tick off much of the fourth quarter. Clark-Atlanta’s last possession would end in a three-and-out,sealing their fate.
Central State will take on the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers next week in Atlanta; the kickoff time is 5:00 p.m. EST. Clark-Atlanta returns home next week to take on defending conference Tuskegee University at 7pm.
