Costly penalties doom Panthers in double-OT loss

 In a game filled with penalties, turnovers and a blown lead, the Prairie View A&M Panthers fell to the Jaguars of Southern University 62-59 in Baton Rouge, La.
The Panthers built a 35-13 lead in the third quarter, but quickly saw that lead vanish. Prairie View set a new school record with a total of 772 yards total offense.
Quarterback Jerry Lovelocke came out and marched his team down the field. Completing his first three passes, Junior running back Courtney Brown ripped off a 21 yard run to the Jaguars 14 yard line setting up Sophomore running back Johnta' Hebert, who had 153 total yards and three touchdowns, to give the Panthers their first lead. Southern quickly scored off a 38 yard TD reception from Dray Joseph to Mike Jones making it 7-7
For the remainder of the first quarter both teams took turns punting the ball and going three and out. In the second quarter, the Panthers rattled off 14 unanswered points giving them a 21-7 lead with scores from Junior Wide Receiver Gabe Dunlap and Courtney Brown.
Southern answered with a 33 yard touchdown run from Lenard Tillery, making the score 21-13 with 2:46 left in the half. Lovelocke led his team down the field right before the half and Brown punched it in from one yard out giving the Panthers a 28-13 lead at halftime.
The third quarter started off in the Panthers favor with Junior Safety David Metcalf forcing a fumble and the Panthers recovering on their own 37-yard line. Senior kicker Chris Barrick missed a 33-yard field goal.
Panthers head coach Heishma Northern said part of the loss came from not being able to finish drives, "We had opportunities after turnovers to tack on points but missed on easy scoring chances," he noted.
After a punt from Southern, Brown, who had a career night in rushing for 224 yards scored one of his three touchdowns giving the panthers a commanding 35-13 lead with 1:47 left in the third quarter. Southern returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards to start their possession on the Panthers 25 yard line. Five plays later, Tillery rushed in from yards out making the score 35-20 as they entered the final quarter.
The fourth quarter went downhill for the Panthers. With a fumble from Redshirt Senior Deandre Cooper, the Jaguars started their comeback. "We had costly turnovers in the fourth quarter that caused us to lose our lead," said Northern. The Jaguars scored making the score 35-27 with 13:55 left in regulation. On the following Panther possession a penalty from sophomore offensive lineman Josiah Freeman caused the Panthers to stall and punt the ball back to the Jaguars. Joseph completed a 25-yard pass to Lee Doss for the tying touchdown. With a 64 yard reception to Brown, Lovelocke scored off a trick play making the score 42-35 with 5:44 left to go. From this point on both teams went back and forth with scoring.
With a chance to win at the end of regulation, Barrick missed a 50 yard field goal slightly to the left sending the Panthers into its first overtime since 2006 with the score knotted up at 49.
Both teams took little time to score in the first OT. Brown scored from 12 yards out tying the game at 56. A huge holding penalty on Center Dillon Bonnet caused the Panthers drive to stall at the Jaguars 20 yard line making them settle for a 25-yard field goal from Barrick. "Penalties during the fourth quarter and overtime kept us from regaining our momentum," Northern said.
The game looked to be in Prairie View's favor after a sack, forced fumble and a loss of 10 yards. Southern called a timeout to regroup. Joseph came back and connected with Doss once again on the game-winning touchdown.
Prairie View is set to take on Alabama A&M Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. as its home opener of the season.