By Terry Wills Jr.
On a Saturday afternoon, a battle took place at the CAU Panther Stadium where the Clark Atlanta Panthers hosted the Allen University Yellow Jackets.
The (1-4) Panthers, who are coming off a four-game losing streak, welcomed the (3-2) Yellow Jackets, who are fresh off a win against Central State.
The Panthers, who were hoping to get off to a fast start, unfortunately, didn't as they went three and out on their first possession of the game. Punter Fernando Lobo was able to pin the Yellow Jackets at the 1-yard line. With the bad field position, David Wright and the Yellow Jackets offense wasn't able to do much as they also went three and out on their first possession. On the second play on the 2nd drive, Elijah Odom threw a 42-yard bomb to wide receiver Drakar Jerry for a touchdown giving the Panthers an early 7-0 lead. Allen University then took the field, and it looked like they were driving to score a touchdown, but on the 10th play of a long drive, David Wright fumbled and was recovered by #37 Ronnie West. Although the Panthers had all the momentum, they were unable to score off the turnover and punted the ball back to the Yellow Jackets to wrap up the first quarter.
The Yellow Jackets had another long drive due to the spectacular play of David Wright as he converted a 1st down on a 3rd & 21 by escaping several Panther defensive lineman and throwing a 24-yard dart to Shemar Nelson to the CAU 30 yard line. Set up in a prime position to tie up the game, the Panthers' defense bent but did not break as linebacker Rodney Lewis stopped David Wright for a 1 yard gain on 3rd down. With the Panthers back on offense, it was time for Elijah Odom to cook. Odom utilized his legs to gash the Yellow Jacket defense and then opened it up by throwing a 21-yard strike in the middle of the field to Darren Stephens.
The Panther offense was red hot, and Odom continued to pick apart the Yellow Jacket's secondary by throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Darren Stephens to cap off a nine-play drive to give the Panthers a 14-0 lead. Allen University came back out on offense and failed to respond because of the stern front seven of the Panther defense as they forced another three and out. Elijah Odom and the Panther offense trotted back onto the field, hoping to extend their lead, but Odom was intercepted by James Dagin, and suddenly the Yellow Jackets had life. David Wright led the offense down to the 1-yard line, where he snapped the ball on 2nd and goal and took it in on his own to get the Yellow Jackets on the board. The Yellow Jackets went for two but failed. The Panthers got the ball back and drove the ball down to the 7-yard line of the Yellow Jackets, setting up a field goal. Carlos Saldana missed the field goal, and the Panthers went into the half leading the Yellow Jackets 14-6.
Coming out of the half, the Panthers hoped to ride the momentum they had in the first half and get off to a fast start beginning the 3rd quarter. The Yellow Jackets started on offense first, and they still couldn't figure out the Panther defense as they were forced to punt after another three and out. The Panthers took over, and it was time for the offense to display their lethal one-two punch as Elijah Odom and freshman running back Jeremiah Gibbs began to rip through the Yellow Jackets defense. Odom kept the ball on a zone-read and got it to the 1-yard line, where he then handed it off to Jeremiah Gibbs, who would punch it into the endzone to extend the Panthers' lead 21-6.
The Yellow Jackets knew they had to respond with a touchdown, and they did just that by driving down the field with a few rushes from Beau Harrington that went over 10 yards and a 23-yard pass from David Wright that was caught by Jamal Jones. While in the red zone, Wright hit Beau Harrington with a short pass, and Harrington did the rest as he ran it in for the 12-yard touchdown. With the score now being 21-12, the Panthers tried to respond on offense but ultimately had to punt the ball away after an incompletion on 3rd down.
It is now the 4th quarter, and the Yellow Jackets have the ball, but the Panthers' secondary continues to be stingy, and they force an incompletion on 3rd down, forcing the Yellow Jackets to punt. The offenses on both sides stall out as the Panthers get the ball and go three and out, giving the ball back to the Yellow Jackets. With time running out, the Yellow Jackets are now in panic mode and are now forced to throw the ball into a Panthers secondary that has been lights out all afternoon. The Yellow Jackets managed to get the ball into CAU territory, where linebacker Rodney Lewis continued his stellar play and sacked Wright forcing them into a long third down. 3rd and 18, the Yellow Jackets sent their receivers down the field, but they weren't open, and Wright was forced to check it down to Harrington for a gain of 4, turning the ball over on downs.
With 8 minutes left, the Panthers wanted to milk the clock, and they began to feed their running backs, Jeremiah Gibbs and Tahjee Hudson. The Panthers eventually punted with 2 minutes left, but the Yellow Jackets still couldn't get any offense going, and they turned the ball over on downs which led to a CAU victory.
Elijah Odom finished the game with 207 passing yards and two touchdowns, as well as 45 rushing yards. Drakar Jerry led the Panthers in receiving as he finished the game with seven catches and 103 receiving yards, and one touchdown. Josef Douglas and Jeremiah Gibbs combined for 73 yards on the ground and one touchdown.
Defensively, the Panthers had a good day as linebacker Rodney Lewis showcased his talents by recording 11 tackles, two sacks, and four tackles for a loss while his partner in crime linebacker Zion Nwokocha recorded 10 tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss.
The defense of the Panthers made great strides this week as they significantly improved their run defense from last week. They made quarterback David Wright Uncomfortable all game as he was only able to total one passing touchdown. After a 0 point outing last week, the Panthers got back on track by taking advantage of the defense's short field by scoring 21 points. The (2-4) Panthers will hit the road next Saturday as they head down to Fort Valley State University to take on the Wildcats.