Morgan State transfer Dae’Jeaun Dennis ran through the chest of an Allen defensive back with less than 20 seconds remaining in the game to give Clark Atlanta a 14-10 homecoming win over visiting Allen University.
It only took four years, three quarters, and three coaches for the Panthers to end a homecoming week on a high note. Willie Slater was at the helm when the red and black a 21-12 victory over Savannah State.
Similar to the 2022 win, Clark Atlanta scored first. The Panthers were gifted a short 56 yards to work with after Rolando Dominquez Jayo shanked the first punt of the game. Led by sophomore quarterback Xzavier Jackson, the Panthers made it as far as the 25-yard line before a pair of penalties forced Head Coach Terry Sims to call for his kicker. It was the right call. Cedric Oglesby split the uprights from 52 yards out to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.
The next 14 minutes were a foreshadowing of the growing missed opportunities that plagued both sidelines on the ruby red turf.
Allen broke the silence and the goose egg on the scoreboard with a bruising 11-play, 93-yard drive. Six ball carriers rushed eight times, gaining at least 4 yards per carry. Ashton Horton capped the drive with a 20-yard pass reception from Brent Upshaw, Jr. The big fella made a leaping grab at the five-yard line and glided in for the touchdown.
Clark Atlanta not only failed to respond on the ensuing drive, but they also gave Allen a gift. Freshman Kaleb Williams replaced Jackson under center presumably to give the offense a spark. The change went in an entirely different direction. After three snaps, the Panthers were no further along on the drive than when Williams entered the game to set up fourth-and-10.
With the ball at the CAU 35, conventional wisdom would be to punt the ball and hopefully flip the field. But where is the fun in that? And besides, it’s homecoming, so let’s go for it must have been the topic of conversation on the home team sideline. There’s a reason why conventional wisdom or rule of thumb goes against putting a freshman QB in situations like these. Williams fumbling the ball trying to make a play is one of them. Fortunately, he was able to regain possession, not that it mattered; the Panthers turned the ball over on downs to the Yellow Jackets 25 yards from their end zone.
The only saving grace was Allen’s offense’s sudden onset of a rare allergy to easy points. Upshaw was sacked on third down, and Ethan Piel missed a gimme 37-yard field goal.
The freshman kicker missed a second field goal in the third that may have changed the outcome of the game.
After a quarterback change, Trayvon Pinder started and ended a 10-play, 80-yard drive with less than four minutes to play. Pinder turned a short pass into a 15-yard gain on the first play of the drive. Chry’shawn Sellers worked his magic between Pinder’s plays, picking up 28 and 11 yards on two receptions. The second pass was courtesy of Jackson, who returned to finish the drive. Once inside the five, Coach Sims turned to Pinder. The squat sophomore back burst through the right side and through a tackler for a two-yard touchdown.
A scoreless third quarter gave way to a mirror image of the second. Allen sophomore defensive lineman Za’Nias Rosemond knocked the ball out of the grasp of Pinder near midfield. Aeron Gresham covered the ball for the Yellow Jackets.
The short field coupled with a few big runs and a 15-yard facemask penalty gave the visitors from Columbia, SC, position in the red zone. Demetri Simmons made the most of the five-play series with a 4-yard touchdown run through the teeth of the Panthers’ defense.
Fortunately for Clark Atlanta, Allen’s offense misfired through the remaining 12 minutes of the game. The Panthers found the spark they needed in Dae’Jeaun Dennis. The 220-pound transfer from Morgan State gained 46 of the offense’s 88 yards. Allen head coach Cedric Pearl called a timeout with 19 seconds remaining and their backup against the goal line to set up the defense.
Everybody that wasn’t partying in the tailgate area knew Dennis was getting the ball. The Waycross, GA native took the handoff deep in the backfield and ran through the chest of sophomore defensive back Deldric Townsend at the goal line for the game-winning score.