In a see-saw battle that never saw a lead go morethan seven points, the Prairie View A&M Panthers football team fell just shy of playing spoiler to the SWAC Western Division leading Arkansas Pine-Bluff Golden Lionswith a 28-21 loss on Saturday afternoon.The Lions struck first in the game on their opening possession handing the ball off to sophomore tailback Martell Mallet on all five plays using a two-yard run on the latter to open a 7-0 lead.
On their second possession of the game, Prairie View needed only 34 seconds and two plays to scratch the scoreboard with an 18 yard strike from Gibson to Tight end Rafael Revuelta and a 16-yard touchdown run by freshman tailback Anthony Weeden, knotting the game at 7.
The Golden Lions went into halftime leading by one point, 14-13.
The second halfsaw 3rd down conversions serveas the pinnacle factor of the game’s outcome. Both teams exchanged touchdown scores, one apiece, but Pine Bluff scored the final touchdown off of a one-yard run by quarterback Chris Wallace into the end zone.
Gibson led the Panthers with 87 yards rushing (one touchdown) and 82 yards passing while Mallet led the Lions with 123 yards rushing on 28 carries and 2 touchdowns. Punter Eric Hernandez garnered Special Teams Player of the Week honors, punting four times for 181 yards, an average of 42.5 yards and Chandre Ward and Zach East led all defenders with 10 tackles apiece.
With this Homecoming loss culminating home games for the ’06 season, the Panthers look for a respectable ending to thisyear as they take to the road for their final two games, this Saturday at Jackson State and next Saturday at Alabama A&M.