Albany State drops 44-36 decision to Clark Atlanta

ATLANTA — Clark Atlanta outscored the Albany State Golden Rams by a 10-point margin in the final quarter, enabling the Panthers to send ASU home with its only SIAC loss of the season, 44-36.

Albany State entered the final frame with a narrow 29-27 lead and capped the scoring with a touchdown with 2:29 left, but Clark Atlanta’s 17 points in the quarter gave it a lead that it held.

Albany State is now 5-3, 4-1 in the SIAC. Clark Atlanta is even all around — 4-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

Clark Atlanta drew first blood in the game-opening drive that covered 86 yards. Aided by a pass interference call against ASU near midfield, the 11-play drive culminated with a 23-yard scoring pass on third and nine from senior quarterback Johnathan McCrary to senior tight end Rodney Morris. The point after gave the Panthers a 7-0 lead.

Albany State tied it up on its first possession. After the Clark Atlanta kickoff went out of bounds, the Rams went to work at their 35. After an incomplete pass and a five-yard run by quarterback Chancellor Johnson had the Rams with third and five on the 40, Johnson hit junior wide receiver Christopher Sparks with a 44-yard pass play took ASU to the Panthers’ 16.

A false start penalty moved them back to the 21 and, after a timeout call by the Rams, Johnson connected with junior tight end Christopher Hunt to set up a seven-yard touchdown run by junior running back Kelan Fraise.

Albany State went up a score in the second when, starting on its own 20 following a Clark Atlanta punt into the end zone. After an intentional grounding penalty offset a roughing the passer call, running back McKinley Habersham picked up 11 on the ground. The redshirt freshman Johnson then connected on another long pass play, a 43-yarder to junior receiver Mike Green.

Habersham then broke off a 29-yard run to the Clark Atlanta 2, where he ran into the end zone on the next play.

Leading 14-7, Clark Atlanta stalled twice and Albany State once before the Rams began their second scoring drive of the quarter from their own 40 after a Panther punt went out of bounds. Working with the shortened field, a small running gain negated by penalties had the Rams on their 37 when Johnson made two big plays.

Looking at third and 17, Johnson scampered for 30 yards before being chased out of bounds at the Clark Atlanta 33. On the next play, he connected on a 30-yard pass with senior wide receiver Quadrey Simmons to get the Rams to the 7. After Johnson picked up 4 on the ground, Habersham rushed the final 3 and ASU was up 22-7.

As the half waned, Clark Atlanta narrowed the lead. An out-of-bounds kickoff by ASU gave the Panthers the ball on their 35 with 1 minute 7 on the clock. A personal foul against ASU helped the Panthers get past midfield, giving Clark Atlanta the ball on the ASU 32.

McCrary hit wide receiver Johnathan Sanders with a 16-yarder to get to the ASU, but a holding penalty against the Rams on an incomplete pass moved them to the ASU 8 with 2 second left. After a Ram timeout, McCrary connected with senior wide receiver DeAndrea Jackson with time expiring to send the teams to the locker room with ASU leading 22-14.

Clark Atlanta cut into the lead more in the third quarter with a 71-yard drive that was aided by a pair of Ram penalties, with the biggest real eaten up by a 28-yard toss from McCrary to Morris. After a 12th man on the field penalty pushed Clark Atlanta from the ASU 1 to the 6, junior running back Roger Thomas carried the ball in for a 22-20 score, which it where it stayed after a two-point conversion attempt failed.

Albany State answered quickly with a defensive touchdown. Backed up to their own 12, ASU punted the ball to its 47. The Panthers moved down to the ASU 38 before running back Jujuan Lankford fumbled. Sophomore defensive back Terrence Harris scooped up the ball for the Rams and carried it 67 yards downfield for a touchdown.

Albany State saw its 29-20 lead whittled again on Clark Atlanta’s next possession, an 83-yard drive with most of the yardage picked up with a 63-yard McCrary to Jackson connection in the air. A McCrary throw to Morris covered the last 28 yards to close the score to 29-27.

Clark Atlanta took its first lead early in the fourth with sophomore kicker Carlos Saldana splitting the uprights with a 46-yard field goal from the 29, giving the Panthers a 30-29 advantage. Clark Atlanta picked up 14 more points on its next two possessions — a three-yard rushing touchdown by Lankford and a 10-yard scoring strike from McCrary to Sanders on third and goal with just over three minutes to go.

Albany State, now trailing 44-29, answered with its next possession. Saldana kicked the ball to the 48 and a seven-yard return has the Rams working with a short field five yards into Panther territory with 3:05 on the clock. Johnson threw a 44-yard pass to Green, then ran the final yard in the next play to cut the Clark Atlanta lead to 44-36.

Albany State began its final possession on its 25 and began moving downfield, with the biggest chunk of real estate coming in a 32-yard Johnson pass to Simmons. ASU moved 68 yards to the Clark Atlanta 7, where a fourth-and-goal pass by Johnson was intercepted Panther defensive back Quantavious Singletary on the 2 with 11 ticks left on the clock. Clark had a final play for no gain to end the contest.

In team stats, Clark Atlanta led in total offense 445 yards to ASU’s 382. Albany State had 121 ground yards on 24 attempts and netted 261 yards in the air on 13 for 28 passing that included two picks. Clark Atlanta had 88 yards rushing on 33 carries, but picked up 357 yards in the air on 28 for 46 passing with no interceptions. Clark Atlanta also more than doubled the number of first downs that ASU got, 24-11, with four of the 24 coming off penalties by ASU.

in rushing, Habersham was the game leader with 67 yards on 13 tries, including a pair of scores. Johnson added 33 yards on seven rushes and Fraise had four runs for 21 yards, They each had a score. Lankford led the Panthers on the ground with 40 yards on 15 rushes and a TD.

Johnson was 13 for 28 in the air for 261 yards and no scores. He was intercepted twice. McCrary was 28 for 46 for 357 yards and five scoring throws.

Green was ASU’s top receiver with 104 yards on four catches. Simmons had 73 yards, also of four receptions. Jackson led the Panther receiving corps with 92 yards on six catches including a TD.

Albany State’s next game is at home at 2 p.m. Saturday in an SIAC matchup against Benedict College.