After clawing back from a 19-0 first half deficit, the Maroon Tigers lost 32-25 to Clark Atlanta, on a last-second touchdown pass.
For the second straight week the Maroon Tigers lost in the last minute, this time on a 65-yard bomb with one second remaining.
The game was strangely reminiscent of last year’s game, when the Panthers also won on a late-game touchdown to spoil the 2005 Morehouse Homecoming.
Clark Atlanta struck first on a 52-yard run by Terrin Usher. The extra point failed. Three minutes later, Morehouse punter Erwin Equihua, standing in his own end zone, had the punt blocked by a CAU defender who pounced on it for a touchdown. The extra point failed. The third score occurred when running back Eddie Rowe was stripped of the ball that was run back 48 yards for a touchdown. Again, the extra point failed.
The Maroon Tigers fought back in the second quarter. With 6:42 left in the first half, quarterback Ruben DuPree connected with Quincy Avery for a 16-yard touchdown strike, to put Morehouse on the board. The scoring drive covered 88 yards in 13 plays.
Midway through the third quarter, kicker Muhammed Abdur-Rahman hit a 32-yard field goal to keep the Morehouse momentum alive.
A nine-yard CAU touchdown pass made the score 25-10.
Less than three minutes later, DuPree hit wide receiver Jeremy Major with a 22-yard touchdown pass. The two hooked up again for the two-point conversion that brought the Maroon Tigers within a touchdown of tying the game.
The teams traded scoreless possessions into the fourth quarter, until Ruben DuPree found his brother Ravenell DuPree in the end zone for a 19-yard scoring pass. Abdur-Rahman’s kick tied the score at 25.
On the ensuing kickoff, CAU’s David Weeks returned the kick 71 yard to the Morehouse 24. But the Maroon Tigers defense held and got the ball back. The drive stalled, the Maroon Tigers punted deep to the Panthers’ end of the field and with 26 seconds remaining in regulation the game seemed headed into overtime.
After an incomplete pass, CAU quarterback Corey Jones hit Gerard Latimore for the winning touchdown between two Morehouse defenders.
Morehouse fell to 2-7 (1-5 SIAC); Clark Atlanta improved to 3-5 (1-5 SIAC).
Morehouse will play Albany State for Homecoming, Saturday at 2 p.m., at B.T. Harvey Stadium. The Golden Rams are coming off of a 17-10 home loss against Tuskegee.
