Prairie View A&M Panthers Post Homecoming Win Over Bacone

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- The Prairie View A&M University football team posted a homecoming win with a 34-17 triumph over Bacone College Saturday at Panther Stadium.

QB Neiko Hollins threw a pair of touchdown passes, both to WR Khadarel Hodge, and RB Sta'fon McCray rushed for a touchdown. Defensively, CB Ju'Anthony Parker returned an interception for a touchdown as the Panthers improved to 3-4 on the season in a contest in which the teams agreed to play two 10-minute quarters in the second half.

"It was good to get a win after two straight losses," Prairie View A&M head coach Willie Simmons said. "It's good to end the game on the positive side of the scoreboard as opposed to the negative. I'm happy about that, but we have to play a lot better. Again, poor execution across the board. Special teams made some plays, but again allowed a kickoff return for touchdown. That's definitely something we have to fix. The defense held up in the first half. I thought in the second half, we played some younger guys and gave up some plays. Offensively, after halftime we only scored three points."

Prairie View A&M scored on five of its seven first-half possessions, including touchdowns on the first two drives. Following a forced three-and-out by the Panthers' defense, it took only three plays to score. McCray's 54-yard scoring run on the third offensive play gave PVAMU a 7-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the game.

After the defense forced a second straight three-and-out, Markcus Hardy blocked a punt which was recovered by RB Caleb Broach at the Bacone nine-yard line. Hodge caught a touchdown pass from Hollins on the ensuing play to give PVAMU a 14-0 lead with 12:08 to play in the first quarter.

Later in the quarter, a 54-yard punt return by Darius Floyd set up a 45-yard Zach Elder field goal for a 17-0 lead with 2:27 to play in the first quarter.

Just over a minute into the second quarter, Parker's 44-yard interception return extended the PVAMU lead to 24-0.

On the Panthers' next offensive possession, it took PVAMU only two plays to score. Hollins and Hodge connected on a 30-yard scoring pass for a 31-0 lead with just over 11 minutes to play until halftime.

"(Bacone Head) Coach (Lawrence) Livingston and I got together at halftime," Simmons said of the decision to shorten the game. "He wanted to make sure his guys got out of the game healthy. He felt like the game was getting out of hand, and we made the decision to shorten the game. They don't have a big roster numbers-wise. Of course, we're a bigger, faster, stronger team and we wanted to allow them to finish out their season strong, so we made the decision to go to the 10-minute quarters for the second half."

Prairie View A&M football returns to action Saturday at Southern at 4 p.m.



PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION