CSU slogs to rare home victory

WILBERFORCE — The weather report was just as important as the game plan in this one.

Central State won its first home game in almost two years Saturday — out-slogging Clark Atlanta 7-0 at McPherson Stadium — because Marauders coach Cedric Pearl knew beforehand about the game-long rain and wind that would turn the field into a mud pit and prepared his players.

“We did the wet ball drill yesterday with our long snapper, our center, the punter and the kicker, too,” he said. “We’d dunk the ball in a bucket of water, pass it to the long snapper and he’d snap to the holder. We also simulated rain and got water out of the bucket and constantly threw it on the long snapper’s hands and helmet.”

Darius Thomas, the Marauders’ mud-caked 270-pounud center, shook his head: “I thought he was crazy, but it worked.”

Central State fumbled twice, but lost just one.

Clark Atlanta — which plays on turf at home — fumbled 12 times and lost three.

Parts of the field had muck 8 to 10 inches deep. By the end of the first quarter players looked like mud wrestlers.

Pearl said in his more than 30 years of college football these were the worst conditions he’d ever been in.

“They said it was gonna rain, but they should have said it’d be a monsoon,” Thomas said.

Senior defensive lineman Rashaun Searlers, who had 13 tackles, said he sank in the mud: “You couldn’t even see my jersey number ‘cause their fat boys were on top of me.”

One guy who handled the conditions when he needed to was junior running back Jerry Lanier, who ran 4 yards for CSU’s winning touchdown.

The play was set up by a 30-yard pass from quarterback Trent Mays to tight end Robert Corbin Jr.

Before Saturday the Marauders had lost 13 of their past 14 games. Their last win at McPherson was over Lane College 27-10 on Oct. 15, 2016.

At the final gun Saturday, players high-fived, hugged and laughed through mud-splattered faces.

“This is the muddiest I’ve ever been in my life,” said defensive line Shemar Moss. “It feels great.”