For the first time ever, the Panthers of Prairie View A&M University have beaten Grambling State University (35-32) and Southern University (16-14) in the same season. This was also the first time the Panthers have beaten Southern in Baton Rouge since 1963. “I think that was a huge win for our football program,” said Head Coach Henry Frazier III. “The west is now ours to win.”
The Panthers traveled to Mumford Stadium to play on ESPNU this past Thursday night. Prairie View (5-1, 5-0 SWAC) knew that they would control their own destiny with a win against the Southern Jaguars (4-3, 1-2), who with a win could still claim the SWAC Championship in the west.
On the opening play, KJ Black hit Donald Babers on a screen play for a 49-yard-dash to the end zone. Brady Faggard’s extra-point would make the score 7-0. Babers would prove to be the X-factor for the Panther offense, gaining a game-high total of 174 yards and two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.
The Jaguars countered the Panther score with a Bryant Lee touchdown run of their own. Lee would account for two touchdowns (one pass, one rush), while completing 25 of 36 passes to eight different receivers for 285 yards.
The real star for the Southern Jaguars was six-foot-three-inch senior wide receiver Juamorris Stewart. Stewart was the engine in the Jaguars’ offense with 162 yards on 12 receptions and one touchdown. With 34 seconds left in the first half, Faggard made a 29-yard field goal to put Prairie View up 10-7 going into the half.
Down 10-7, the Southern Jaguars fired back quickly, with Lee finding Stewart on the right side of the field only to make a highlight reel play and take it all the way back across the field to the end zone. The score left the Panthers down 14-10, giving the Southern Jaguars all the momentum needed to upset the number one team in the SWAC.
The Panthers eventually f0ught back, after a scoreless third quarter, to score early in the fourth with a Babers go-ahead touchdown. Prairie View took the lead but missed the extra point, leaving the game at 16-14.
The door was now wide open for a Southern Jaguars’ game winning drive. In the final minutes of the game, the Southern Jaguars would drive into Panther territory, and it looked like the Jaguars would have a chance to win the game with a field goal as time expired. But when you’re destined to be a champion things sometimes bounce your way and on the way to the end zone Stewart fumbled inside the Panthers’ five-yard line. The ball was promptly recovered by Prairie View and the Panthers would line up in victory formation to seal the win.
“My hat goes off to our defense,” said Frazier. “I told the defense that they had to find a way to stop this team, because defense wins championships.”
With the win over Southern, the Panthers are in control of their own destiny and in the driver’s seat of the SWAC’s west division. Prairie View’s next opponent will be the Alabama A&M Bulldogs (4-3, 1-2) at home on Nov. 7.