It's over
Prairie View finally ends 80-game losing streak
Posted: Saturday September 26, 1998 11:50 PM
| |
Streak breaker: Coach Greg Johnson (right) led the Panthers to their first victory since October 28, 1989 AP |
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Prairie View A&M ended the nation's longest
losing streak against the team that started it, scoring two
second-half touchdowns and making big defensive plays in a 14-6
victory over Langston on Saturday night.
The Panthers hadn't won since October 28, 1989, when they defeated
Mississippi Valley State 21-12 and ironically their losing streak
started with a 19-18 loss to Langston the next week.
"There wasn't any doubt in my mind what we could do," said
Panthers coach Greg Johnson, who left Langston two years ago to
rebuild the Panthers program. "We just had to believe and come
through in the stretch."
Langston cut Prairie View's lead to 14-12 on Archie Craft's
51-yard touchdown pass to Ted Roberts with 34 seconds left.
Langston then went for the tying 2-pointer, but Craft was stopped
just short of the goal line on a quarterback sneak.
It took the referees about 15 seconds to untangle the players
near the goal line, and signal that the conversion failed. When the
signal finally came, Prairie View players began celebrating.
"We stopped him [Craft] on the 3 and thought we stopped his
forward motion, then he fell through," said defensive lineman
Antonio Scott.
"Coach always said the team would come together by the third or
fourth game. This was the fourth game."
Langston tried an onside kick, but it was recovered by Prairie
View, and the Panthers ran out the clock.
"It was well overdue. ... we've been in all kinds of situations
and we finally got it done," Johnson said.
A crowd of about 5,000 was on hand for the game, played in
Oklahoma City as the third annual T.M. Crisp Classic. Johnson
started the game while at Langston as a way to promote football at
predominantly black colleges.
The Prairie View basketball team gave the school hope last
season when it earned a spot in the NCAA playoffs with a surprising
march through the SWAC tournament. But the football victory over
Langston was even more stunning.
Safety Terry Green (28) helped Praire View A&M hold Langston to 12 points to end the losing streak AP | |
Prairie View trailed 3-0 at halftime after gaining just 49
yards. But the Panthers established themselves on the opening drive
of the second half, going 69 yards and capping the drive with a
6-yard run by Omar Garnette to take a 7-3 lead.
Prairie View (1-3), an NCAA Division I-AA team, scored again
seven minutes later on a 57-yard run by Kevin Bell.
Langston (2-2), an NAIA school, got a 36-yard field goal from
Kevin McKee in the first quarter, but that was it until the 8:12
mark of the fourth quarter when McKee kicked a 35-yard field goal
to make it 14-6.
Prairie View then fumbled the ball on first down and Langston
recovered at the Panthers' 11. But Langston netted minus-1 yard on
three plays and then missed a field goal.
Langston's next drive ended on downs at the Prairie View 39, but
the Lions got the ball back for a final time with 1:49 left on
their own 29.
An 11-yard completion kept the drive alive on fourth-and-seven.
Two plays later, Craft hit Roberts down the middle for the
touchdown.
The Lions drove to the Prairie View 12-yard line just before
halftime but an interception killed the drive.
Langston also fumbled the ball away at the Prairie View 10 on
the final play of the third quarter.
Last year. the Lions played host to Grambling and coach Eddie
Robinson, who was in the final year of his long career.
Prairie View started the season with 77 straight losses.
The Panthers trailed Southern University 10-0 going into the
fourth quarter last week before losing 37-7.
In their opener, they fell behind Texas Southern 17-0 before
losing 24-13. In their second game, the Panthers blew a halftime
lead and lost to Howard Payne 22-14.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
MULTIMEDIA
