Box Score Johnson C. Smith squandered an 11-point fourth quarter lead highlighted by a "miracle" Virginia Union touchdown with 0.9 seconds remaining to fall to the Panthers, 27-26, Saturday, September 27 at the Irwin Belk Complex.
JCSU had built a 26-15 lead with 6:30 remaining following a 10-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard pass from Keon Wallace to
Fred Scott.Â
Erik Amaya added the PAT to give the Golden Bulls their largest lead of the contest.
Virginia Union responded with a 6-play, 76-yard scoring drive engineered by backup quarterback Kenneth Graham. Graham connected with Danta Gross on a 38-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 26-21. Rashaun Smith's two-point PAT attempt failed leaving JCSU with 3:19 of clock time to kill.
The Golden Bulls started their final drive on their own 46 yardline. After driving to the VUU 25, on third and nine, JCSU's Wallace was sacked by VUU's Devin Epps. While Wallace was in the grasp, he tried to throw the ball away and was hit with an intentional grounding penalty pushing JCSU back to the VUU 37 leaving JCSU with a fourth and 23. JCSU punted into the endzone and VUU took over on its own 20 yardline.with 49 seconds remaining in the game.
The Panthers drove 43 yards in six plays before Graham found Jussie York streaking down the left sideline for a 37-yard, one-handed touchdown catch.
It was a game of turnovers (VUU - 5, JCSU -3) and while Johnson C. Smith's defense played well, Virginia Union kept fighting until the final whistle.
Keith Darnell and Jerrell Miller led the Golden Bull defensive effort. Both had five total tackles and were joined by
Kerry Hartley who had two pass interceptions on the day.
Offensively, Wallace was 26 for 44 passing with two touchdowns. Scott caught 10 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown, along with two punt returns and two kickoff returns for 107 yards of total offense.
JCSU returns to action Saturday, October 4 when they travel to Bowie, MD to face the Bulldogs of Bowie State University.
