State Fair Classic: Prairie View A&M 35, Grambling State 32

Prairie View A&M gets first win over Grambling State since 1986

The clock was ticking down, and the Prairie View A&M players were jumping. The program had waited a long time to celebrate against Grambling State. So when the game officially ended with The Panthers on top, 35-32, they stormed the field and tossed up a banner in the rain. Horns blared. Quarterback K.J. Black waved a golden champions belt. For the first time since 1986, Prairie View (2-1) had defeated Grambling (2-3), and this wasn't a celebration. This was catharsis, soaking-wet catharsis.

"People here have been waiting on this a long time," Black said. Black fooled them Saturday at the Cotton Bowl's State Fair Classic. He fooled everyone. His fake, one that hadn't worked all game, sealed the victory. It was fourth-and-1 with 1:22 to go. The Panthers needed a foot. Run it up the middle, right? Instead, coach Henry Frazier called a play that would let Black decide his team's fate. He took the snap with the option to hand off the ball or run it outside. Black saw a linebacker coming and sprinted outside for a major gain. No one saw it coming. "That was all K.J.," Frazier said. Black capped off his big day after running for two touchdowns and throwing for two more.



GSU loses to Prairie View

DALLAS — Greg Dillon did what Greg Dillon does against Prairie View. It just wasn't enough this time, as Prairie View won an historic State Fair Classic, 35-32. The Panthers hadn't beaten Grambling State since 1986 --- and had only bested its Southwestern Athletic Conference divisional rival 11 times since 1950. "The ball bounces a lot of different ways, and that has determined the winner," Grambling coach Rod Broadway said. "Prairie View has been good since we've been here."

Last year, Dillon secured the starting position in GSU's dominating win at the State Fair Classic. He found his long-lost rhythm again against these Panthers --- exploding for 293 yards and 3 touchdowns, two in the air and one on the ground. But Prairie View had this game in hand from the first, jumping out to a two-score lead, and only briefly falling behind as Grambling came alive in the third-period to make it interesting with three quick scores. "If you want to be the champs," Prairie View coach Henry Frazier said, as GSU's players silently filed off the field, "then you have to beat the champs."



State Fair Classic Attendance: 42,786 @ Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

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Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University Marching Storm Band @ State Fair Classic 10/3/09, Dallas, Texas

Pennsylvania All-star game stretching

Now in its ninth year, the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association East West All-Star Game continually broadens its horizons. Game alumni like Mike Cox, Bruce Gradkowski and Shaheer McBride (Delaware State - Philadephia Eagles) have gone on to play in the NFL. Ray Ventrone even made a tackle in the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots.

Strong Vincent's Deonte Flemings (red/black in photo) lost only one game in his senior season-- at the PIAA Class AAA semifinals. The 5-10/170 Vincent is a triple threat athlete--running QB, WR and lock down cornerback. Flemings is a Grambling State Tiger signee.

Unless there is a change in plans in the next few months, Erie Strong Vincent's Deonte Flemings will expand the game's scope to a new frontier: Louisiana. Flemings, one of 68 high school seniors who arrived at the Blair County Convention Center Sunday morning to begin preparations for this year's East West Game, has signed a letter-of-intent with the legendary Grambling State Tigers. Although he'll spend a few months at North Carolina Tech Preparatory School in Charlotte, should he fulfill his commitment to Grambling, he'd be the first player from the game to play his college ball in Louisiana and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. He'd also be making one of the farthest trips to a college of anyone to have competed in the game. This year's contest will be held at Mansion Park on Friday at 6 p.m.

That its talent would now be reaching the SWAC is a feather in the cap of the game and the talent in Pennsylvania. SWAC schools have produced Walter Payton (Jackson State) and Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State), the NFL's former all-time leading rusher and all-time leading receiver. Grambling is the most-storied football power in the conference, turning out four Pro Football Hall of Famers under the late Eddie Robinson, whom Penn State's Joe Paterno surpassed to become Division I college football's all-time winningest coach. That list doesn't even include No. 1 overall draft pick and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Doug Williams.

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Grambling's Greg Dillon enjoying solid spring after remarkable year

Photo Gallery: Grambling season wrap-up

At first, as Dillon and a retooled line gelled, he let his athleticism guide the offense. There were, for a while, as many eye-popping broken-play dashes by this gifted runner as there were forehead-slapping miscues. But Grambling kept winning, as Dillon matured. “Greg made everybody better on offense,” Broadway said. “When you have that double threat like that, it makes everybody look good.” He grew in confidence with every week, peaking along with his superlative defenders, as the campaign concluded.

Grambling earned its first three victories, before the quarterback question was settled, by an average of 10 points. The Tigers closed out the season whipping opponents by an average of three touchdowns. “Knowing I didn’t have to do it all helped me, knowing that people had my back — on offense and defense,” said Dillon, projecting a cool confidence. “Toward the end of the year, we were able to go out there and just play."

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Grambling State stockpile top quarterback recruits

Efferlan Williams is hoping to bring the same success he had during his brief time at Greer High to Grambling State University. Williams, Greenville County's player of the year during the only season he played for the Yellow Jackets, has signed a national letter of intent with Grambling. Williams transferred in from Maryland during his junior year and played for the Jackets as a senior. He rushed for 1,844 yards and passed for 734 yards and led Greer to a 10-2 record and the Region 3-AAA championship.

"Efferlan made a huge impact in regards to our offensive production," Greer coach Will Young said. "His ability to throw the ball well and, of course, run the ball made us multi-dimensional."

Efferlan Williams Sr. said North Greenville, Livingstone and North Carolina A&T showed interest in his son, but Grambling was the best fit. "Efferlan could play a number of positions, but his heart was set on playing quarterback, and we told him we wanted him to be happy and play the position where he wants to play," Efferlan Sr. said.

Greer, S.C. QB (#7) Efferlan Williams signs with Grambling State

"At first, there were a lot of smaller schools that were looking at me. I tried to wait it out. Grambling was the last one, and I liked what they had to offer," the younger Williams said. "I like their tradition. They run a similar offense to what we ran. When I came to Greer, I liked the type of offense that we ran."

Tarpon Springs High School (Florida) quarterback Danny Reyes will be continuing his football career at Grambling State University, said Spongers head coach George Kotis. The senior signed his letter of intent on February 20. Reyes led the explosive Spongers offense to the regional quarterfinals this season by throwing for over 2,400 yards and completing 61.6 percent of his attempts. According to stats compiled by maxpreps.com, Reyes threw for the second highest amount of yardage of all Tampa Bay area quaterbacks in 2008.

Reyes and Williams will join incoming Tigers freshmen All-State student-athletes Brendan Crawford and Justin Higgins, who signed their letters of intent on National Signing Day.

Brenda Crawford is a 6-5 205 quarterback from El Paso, Texas Chapin High School. Crawford was an All-State performer who transferred into Chapin High School before the start of the 2007 season and made an immediate impact. He passed for 2,207 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 266 yards and nine touchdowns. The talented Crawford also averaged 40.6 yards per punt with a long of 64 yards.

Justin Higgins is a talented QB from Rayville, Louisiana. The 6-2 185 Rayville High School product is one of the top athletes in the state who’ll play quarterback for Grambling State. He was named to the 2007 Class 3A LSWA All-State Team as an athlete and was named as the LSWA’s Outstanding Offensive Athlete as a junior in 2006. Higgins passed for over 6,000 yards, rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and surpassed the 60-touchdown mark in his high school career. He was also an standout linebacker in high school.

New Grambling athletics director discusses his football scheduling philosphy

New Grambling athletics director Lin Dawson revealed a few of his thoughts on football scheduling during a meet-and-greet stop in Shreveport this week. Dawson, who has been the Grambling AD for four months, is researching the viability of playing a future game in Shreveport. He said he contacted SMU about the possibility.

“I think part of the reason we are here today is to explore options and relationships,” Dawson said. “We’re certainly open to playing. We want to go where our fans want to go. We have about 5-to-6,000 alumni in Shreveport. That would be very important to them.” A Shreveport game, though, would need to fit into the school’s scheduling philosophy.

Last year, Grambling traveled to Reno, Nev., to open its season against Football Bowl Subdivision member Nevada. The Tigers also played an in-state opponent with a visit to Northwestern State. “Our philosophy is, No. 1 to schedule competitive games,” Dawson said. “We want to be the best at competing at the highest level in our division. It’s important for us to beat the people we play against.

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