DAYTONA BEACH — A game that started with a 28-7 first-quarter lead for Bethune-Cookman ended with Clark Atlanta’s entire roster storming onto the Daytona Stadium field.
Freshman kicker Leonardo Cabrera invoked the celebration, drilling a 55-yard field goal as time expired to stun the Wildcats 38-37 Saturday. The Division II Panthers (3-0-1) outscored Bethune-Cookman 24-3 in the second half.
“We just didn’t finish,” B-CU coach Raymond Woodie Jr. said. “We made too many mistakes, and that’s on us as coaches. We have to get corrected — penalties and different things like that.”
Clark Atlanta’s game-winning drive began at its own 1-yard line with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter. It took the Panthers eight plays and an unsportsmanlike penalty with 15 seconds left to get into Wildcats territory.
After a 6-yard pass and an incompletion, Cabrera trotted out for the kick with three seconds left.
Bethune-Cookman (0-4) led 37-28 entering the fourth quarter.
“At the end of the day, I kept telling the guys, ‘Those guys are not going to quit,’” Woodie Jr. said. “They had a lot of fight in them, and they finished. We can’t lighten up. We have to tighten up in those situations.”