Football

PANTHERS BEAT SAN DIEGO 54-51 AS TIME EXPIRES

Dalton Sneed connected with JT Stokes with a one-yard touchdown pass on the game’s final play to give the Panthers a 54-51 win over the San Diego Strike Force at Pechanga Arena.

In his first game with San Diego, Nate Davis threw five touchdown passes, including a go-ahead score to Kentrez Bell from eight yards out with 5:57 to play in the fourth quarter to give the Strike Force a 51-48 lead.

The Panthers took over from their 19-yard line with 4:16 left. They worked their way to the five-yard line on a jet sweep run by JT Stokes for a first down on the first play after the one-minute warning. A pair of Sneed runs took Bay Area to the one-yard line as San Diego took its final timeout with 43 seconds left. On third down, Sneed was stopped again at the one and the Panthers ran the clock down before calling a timeout with four seconds remaining.

On fourth down, Sneed faked a handoff to Justin Rankin before finding Stokes on a crossing route on the right edge of the end zone for the first road win in franchise history as time expired.

The game saw six lead changes, including four in the fourth quarter.

For the second straight week, the Panthers produced on special teams with Imeek Watkins returning two kicks for touchdowns—the first multi-return touchdown game in team history.

Rankin ran for three touchdowns and leads the team with nine on the season.

The Panthers (3-2) are home Saturday to host Vegas while San Diego (2-4) faces Green Bay on the road after a bye week.