By Joe Myers
Correspondent to The Charlotte Observer

Johnson C. Smith's Devontae Stafford leaves Miles' Quinton Land behind while returning a punt in the first half Saturday. (Photo: Mike Haskey)

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Johnson C. Smith closed its season with a 35-33 win over Miles College in Pioneer Bowl XIII Saturday at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium, but the win sure didn't come easy for the Golden Bulls.

Miles (7-5) had a chance to tie the game at 35 following a 21-yard touchdown pass from David Thomas to Antonio Pitts with two seconds remaining in regulation, but the Golden Bears' two-point conversion pass fell incomplete, allowing Johnson C. Smith (6-5) to escape with the victory.

"To finish our season with a win is really big," said Johnson C. Smith coach Steven Aycock, whose team finished with its best record since 2006 - when the Golden Bulls went 7-4 and received a bid to the Pioneer Bowl. "This is something we've been driving for since we started offseason workouts in January. The kids really believe in what we're trying to do here and the coaching staff has put these kids in situations where we can win."

Johnson C. Smith had minus-3 yards of offense in the first half, but still trailed only 10-7 at the break thanks to a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Keahn Wallace with 3 minutes, 18 seconds to go in the second quarter.

The Golden Bulls forced a turnover on Miles' first possession of the second half and three plays later, Wallace scored again - this time on a 5-yard run - to give Johnson C. Smith a 14-10 lead. Wallace got his third rushing TD of the day on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter to make it 21-10 Golden Bulls and Johnson C. Smith seemingly had the momentum going its way.

A field goal got Miles back to within 21-13 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but a 23-yard touchdown run by Denzel Hartley pushed the Golden Bulls' lead back out to 28-13 with 14:10 to go. Miles wouldn't go away quietly, though, getting a pair of touchdowns to trim the lead to 28-27 with 7:02 remaining in the game.

Johnson C. Smith then put together a 12-play, 72-yard drive that took 5:47 off the clock before Dedric Anderson capped things off with a 24-yard touchdown run, making it 35-27 with 1:22 left. The Golden Bears promptly went 75 yards in 10 plays before the Thomas touchdown pass to Pitts, setting up the game's dramatic conclusion.

"We just had to stop making mistakes and we were able to move the ball (in the second half)," Aycock said. "We knew we could move the ball, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We thought our defense could stop them if we could just score some points."

Wallace, who finished the game 8-for-17 for 59 yards passing and ran the ball 22 times for another 37 yards and three touchdowns, was named the game's Most Valuable Player. The Golden Bulls' Darius Johnson, who had 10 tackles (five solo, five assists) and 11/2 tackles for a loss of 8 yards, was voted Johnson C. Smith's Defensive Player of the Game. Anderson led Johnson C. Smith's ground game with 104 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.

Thomas was 16-for-27 for 267 yards and three touchdowns passing and had 12 carries for 103 rushing yards to be named Player of the Game for Miles.

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