Box Score
If the Southern offense had dilemmas finding chemistry against McNeese State and Mississippi Valley State, starting senior quarterback Thomas Ricks had no problems finding it for them Saturday in the Jags’ 42-12 win over Prairie View A&M. The victory before 20,830 fans in Houston’s Reliant Stadium gave Southern (2-1, 1-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) its first conference win and delivered the Panthers (2-1, 1-1 SWAC) their first loss of the season.
Last season, when Southern defeated Prairie View 62-7, Ricks had a chance to score on a two-point conversion after the Jags’ first touchdown. He was unsuccessful in the attempt, but what a difference a year makes.
Ricks’ 55 rushing yards and 24 of 36 passes for 257 yards accounted for over half of the Jags’ 535 yards in total offense against what was the best defense in NCAA Division I-AA.
Against the Panthers, four Jaguars caught career-first touchdowns. Junior Steel Adams 7-yard scoring run was also a career-first.
Jags’ sophomore running back Jamaal Huff’s 21-yard touchdown reception put Southern on the scoreboard at the 11:18 mark in the first quarter. Southern would go on to score four more times before Prairie View A&M could respond. Jags’ senior tight end Dedrick Shelmire contributed two touchdown receptions, while one of junior wide-out Emile Bryant’s two receptions was a 6-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half.
“We didn’t capitalize. We went through adversity today,” Panthers’ head coach Henry Frazier III said. “It wasn’t our best football game and they were the better football team.”
Although Frazier is in his inaugural season as the Panthers’ head coach, Saturday was not the first meeting with Southern head coach Pete Richardson. During the 1979 season, Frazier was a quarterback at Bowie State when the Bulldogs defeated Richardson as head coach of Winston-Salem State. Frazier not only led the Bulldogs in a season win against Winston-Salem State, but again at the end of the season in the CIAA Championships.
The third quarter was the only ray of sunshine for the Panthers. Two 1-yard touchdowns runs – one early in the third quarter and another at the end of the quarter – by Panthers’ sophomore fullback Eric Woods, provided the Panthers with little momentum going into the fourth quarter. Sophomore wide receiver Antonio Overstreet eliminated all hopes of Prairie View A&M winning the game with an early fourth quarter 12-yard touchdown reception. Overstreet finished the game with four receptions for 50 yards.
“Every time we play these teams, we have to take them out early,” Richardson said. “We have to play every team hard and get out there and score.”
Although the Jags suffered five penalties for 62 yards, they achieved 31 first downs and were four of five on fourth-down conversions.
Southern’s defense constantly kept the Panthers’ offense in check. Junior defensive lineman Deshawn Jones contributed three tackles and a sack that sent Panthers’ senior quarterback Michael Hill for a loss of ten yards.
Jags’ senior linebacker Taurus Morgan delivered six tackles and a sack to a Panthers’ offense that could only achieve 65 rushing yards.
“We had a couple of kinks in the end,” Morgan said. “But we are trying to get better and this game showed it.”
Senior rusher Gerald Holmes earned his second 100-yard performance with 132 yards and junior James Vernon led the Jags’ in receiving with five catches for 56 yards.
