HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Gabe Dunlap caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jerry Lovelocke with 21 seconds remaining as Prairie View A&M rallied to defeat Alabama A&M 38-35 at Lewis Crews Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the Panthers' season finale.
Trailing 28-24 late in the fourth quarter, junior running back Johnta' Hebert broke free for an 88-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage and also surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season as his run gave PVAMU a 31-28 lead with 4:07 left. It appeared the Panthers secured the win on the ensuing drive as cornerback Stephen Meighan picked off AAMU's Jaymason Lee. The Panthers played it conservatively and attempted to burn clock from that point but turned the ball over on downs with 1:51 left. AAMU went into hurry-up mode on its next drive and was down to its final play until Lee found Octayvius Myles for a 46-yard touchdown reception on 4th-and-10 at the PVAMU 46. The PAT was successful as AAMU moved ahead 35-31 with 1:08 remaining.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by AAMU moved them back on the ensuing kickoff which set up solid field position at the PVAMU 39 following Hebert's 23-yard kick return. Down by four with 59 seconds left, the Panther offense went to work as Lovelocke connected with Hebert for four yards, Nick Pitre for 25 yards and Rayshaun Givens for 18 yards as the ball was on the AAMU 14. Lovelocke misfired on his next attempt but made his final throw as a PVAMU Panther count as he found fellow senior Gabe Dunlap in the corner of the endzone for a 14-yard game-winning strike.
AAMU had one last desperation attempt on its final drive but ran out of time as Lee's final heave to wideout Tevin McKenzie stalled at the PVAMU 13.
The Bulldogs opened the game with a surprising 12-0 lead after a pair of first quarter touchdown runs. AAMU had a special teams mishap late in the first quarter and turned the ball over at the PVAMU 1 after an illegal kick which turned into a 12-7 PVAMU deficit following Lovelocke's two-yard run.
AAMU moved ahead 15-7 midway through the second quarter via a field goal but PVAMU kept answering as Hebert scored on a three-yard run coupled with a Christopher Barrick field goal.
A 38-yard pass from Lovelocke to Pitre gave PVAMU its first lead of the afternoon early in the third quarter. However, the lead was brief as AAMU tacked on a 14-yard touchdown pass five minutes later to reclaim the lead which set-up the fourth quarter heroics.
The Panthers finished with 453 total offensive yards as 313 yards came via the pass in addition to 140 rushing yards. Hebert finished with 128 yards on 17 carries as he became the second consecutive Panther to surpass the 1,000-yard rushing mark in a season. Pitre led the way with 114 yards on five receptions while Meighan and Jerome Howard finished with 10 and nine tackles, respectively.
Prairie View A&M closes out the 2014 season with a 5-5 record as they won five of its final six contests.
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