The Prairie View A&M University Panthers (2-4) captured a victory over Lincoln University (3-5) with a 40-8 drubbing of the Blue Tigers. Prairie View put up some of their most impressive rushing and passing statistics of the season in a contest that was out of reach for Lincoln from the start. Prairie View’s defense stifled the Blue Tigers holding Lincoln to zero first half points and a mere eight for the game. The Panthers also recorded their first passing touchdown of the season breaking a drought that was the longest the Panther football team had seen since 2002.PVAMU initially got on the board with a 21-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Arnell Fontenot at the 13:23 mark of the first quarter. The touchdown was set up by a 31-yard scamper by running back Darrell Walker, which placed the ball at the LU 20 yard line. Fontenot capped off the Panthers’ next scoring drive with a 20-yard touchdown run that increased Prairie View’s advantage to 14-0 after a successful Mario Sanchez extra point attempt with 2:35 left to play in the first quarter.
The scoring onslaught continued deep into the first half as Prairie View added points on a four-yard Kameco Andrews touchdown reception from Micheal Hill (2:35, 1st qtr.), a Chandre Ward safety (2:19, 1st qtr.), a 22-yard Mario Sanchez field goal (5:34, 2nd qtr.) and a 19-yard Anthony Gibson touchdown reception from Hill (4:31, 2nd qtr.). The Panthers went into halftime leading 33-0.
In the second half the Panthers added one more touchdown on a Joe Townsend 14-yard touchdown reception from Hill at the 6:18 mark of the third quarter to put a cap on their scoring for the day at 40. The 40 points scored was Prairie View’s largest scoring output of the season.
“I feel like Micheal Hill played well for us offensively,” said head coach Henry Frazier III. “He has been very impressive his last two starts and in my opinion he has played the best two games that I have seen him play since I’ve been here. Our offensive line once again dominated from start to finish. I feel like they have elevated their play the last couple of weeks. Overall, offensively we have made small improvements each week.”
Prairie View also made significant improvements in the red zone scoring 6-of-7 times.
“We did a much better job of taking advantage of our red zone scoring opportunities,” said Frazier. “In practice we ran our number one offense against our number one defense and I think that helped us in preparing for game situations. I look forward to seeing continued improvement with our third down conversions. On defense we will strive to improve on third downs as well.”
Mississippi Valley State, the Panthers’ homecoming opponent, presents a balanced attack and currently ranks third in the SWAC in total offense and defense.
MVSU is led by junior quarterback Aries Nelson, who is regarded around the conference as one of the best.
“We didn’t get a chance to see Nelson last year due to an injury, so it will be interesting to see how we match up against him,” said Frazier. “He is one of the better quarterbacks in the conference. He’s right up there with Bruce Eugene of Grambling State and Tavarius Jackson of Alabama State. Our defensive backs will be tested as well as our entire defensive unit.