Future looks bright for Prairie View football program

Look how far they’ve come: No longer a football laughingstock, these Panthers are stalking a SWAC championship

PRAIRIE VIEW — Mark Spivey wanted to savor the moment, his last chance to celebrate homecoming as a member of the Prairie View A&M football team. Almost 30 minutes had passed since the Panthers defeated Alabama State 27-6 at Blackshear Stadium in front of 9,257 people, most of whom sported purple and gold while watching Spivey throw for 270 yards and two touchdowns. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to have so many fans here,” he said. “This is much, much different from the first homecoming I played in.”

The sixth-year senior epitomizes the change in attitude and expectations for the Panthers, who enter Saturday’s game at winless Arkansas-Pine Bluff with a 5-1 mark and in the hunt for the school’s first trip to the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game. Winning is no longer treated like the pleasant surprise it brought for most of the 31 seasons before last’s year’s team finished 7-3. Saturday’s victory assured the program of consecutive non-losing seasons, a feat that hasn’t been seen at Prairie View since the 1967 squad finished the last of 22 straight campaigns of at least .500 ball.

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