Redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Mix, Jr. came off the bench to put on the show that won him MVP and the Class 4A Alabama High School Athletic Association State Championship as a senior at Vigor High School in 2021. The Butler Community College transfer put the team on his sizable shoulders and led the Golden Bears to 27 unanswered points to route Clark Atlanta at Panthers Stadium in Atlanta.
Miles and Clark Atlanta entered the game in desperate need of a win, Miles more so than the Panthers. The Golden Bears dropped their first two games to a pair of contenders from the SWAC and a third to a problematic Edward Waters team that dropped a double nickel on Savannah State a week later.
Clark Atlanta was looking for its first win since defeating Morehouse in their season opener. The Panthers grabbed the momentum early on, getting out to a 14-0 lead. Xzavier Jackson got the party started with an 11-yard run to convert third-and-10. The true sophomore converted another third-and-long on the next set of downs with an 18-yard completion to Rodarial Abercrombie deep into Miles territory. Jackson struck pay dirt three plays later with a well-thrown ball into the hands of Nicholas Teeter in the back of the end zone.
Freshman running back Elijah Miller (Grayson) dove across the goal to cap a six-play, 49-yard drive. Miller carried the offense on the drive, picking up all but 7 yards.
And then the lightning showed up, sending the players to the locker room and the fans to the concession area.
Two Hours Later
What was forecasted to be a quick downpour turned into a prolonged delay. All the momentum Clark Atlanta enjoyed early left with the storm. When the two teams returned to action, there was no doubt who benefited the most from the delay. Vandiver returned to the helm to guide the Golden Bears deep in Panthers territory. Mix returned to the field for the next two snaps, rushing for 3 yards and serving as a decoy for the direct snap to running back Roderick Thomas. The red-shirt sophomore wasted no time getting north and south, carrying CAU linebacker Kirkland Boone on his back into the end zone.
The Golden Bears defense used that energy to hold the Panthers offense to seven yards on three plays. Joseph Wright got a great bounce on his punt to send the Golden Bears back to their side of the field.
It didn’t matter.
Mix and Thomas chewed up the run defense for 54 yards on four consecutive runs. Mix jumped over one or two, dragged a couple more for a 28-yard gain. On the next play following Thomas’ 11-yard run, Mix used his arm, finding Jaiden Jones in the middle of the field. Jones ran through a defender’s arm tackle and skipped the rest of the way into the end zone to tie the score.
Rourke Davis added a 34-yard field goal to cap a 32-second drive and put the Golden Bears ahead going into the half.
CAU’s defense played better in the second half, giving up just 10 points, but the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. Dropped balls limited the Panthers to 99 yards of offense in the second half. Jackson was accurate, yet he finished with 12 completions on 27 attempts.
Mix put the nail in the Panthers’ coffin late in the fourth, breaking contain for a 67-yard touchdown run with less than three minutes remaining. The score extended the Golden Bears’ lead to thirteen points.
If the Mix touchdown put the nail in the coffin, Jacobi Whitfield’s interception on the Panthers’ ensuing possession hammered it home.
Clark Atlanta will head back to work to get ready for winless Warner University from the NAIA’s Sun Conference.
Miles heads to the shores of Georgia, where they will take on winless Savannah State. The Orange Tigers have given up an average of 64 points in losses to SC State, Albany State, and Edward Waters.