By HAL LAMAR | The Atlanta Voice
It’s Homecoming week for both Morehouse and Clark-Atlanta University with both teams facing important opponents with a heavy bearing on division records for both.
The Maroon Tigers will face Benedict College while just across the campus, the CAU Panthers will battle Albany State. Both games are slated to kick off at 2 p.m. leaving fans of both colleges wondering which game to attend.
The Maroon Tigers, at 0-1 in the eastern division of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), are in fourth place while CAU is in the basement of the division at 0-2. It’s a bit disappointing that both Morehouse and CAU — who looked more promising initially — would wait until the near end of the season to start losing.
Last week, the Panthers journeyed to Columbia, South Carolina and lost 14-3 to Benedict. The game drew 12,739 to Charlie Johnson Stadium for James “Mike” White’s offensive and defensive elevens and they didn’t let the partisans down. It was a low-scoring game and likely disappointed fans of high-scoring offenses.
But it did move Benedict to third place in the eastern division of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and move Morehouse and CAU to the basement of the division.
Morehouse, who battled Tuskegee to overtime only to lose 23-17 a fortnight ago, handed Albany State a 34-10 Homecoming win and put the Rams in hollering distance to first place Fort Valley in the SIAC East.
Elsewhere in the SIAC
Central State was not the only team in the Division II conference to defeat a Division 1 opponent. Tuskegee, first place in the SIAC’s western division, turned hapless, winless Jackson State every way but loose last weekend in the second Fifth Quarter Classic in Mobile, Alabama. They won the game 33-7 and allowed the D-1 Tigers to score only once.
JSU is 0-6, the first time they’ve had a winless season since 1969. Last year, Tuskegee defeated Florida A&M 20-17 in the first 5th Quarter classic.
Lane College managed to score 14 points in the second half but by then, their opponent Fort Valley had amassed 24 in the first add 14 more points of their own in the second for a 37-14 win and solidify their hold on first place in the SIAC East.
Miles College has shut out three schools since 2014 so I guess Reggie Ruffin and his Golden Bears figured it was time for one more and they got it last weekend 35-0 against Kentucky State University.
It was also a division game so it didn’t hurt Miles standings in the SIAC West. They are second behind division-leading Tuskegee, which may lead to a showdown when the Golden Tigers meet the Golden Bears Nov. 4 in Tuskegee — this is also Tuskegee’s Homecoming.
