JACKSON, Miss. – The Prairie View A&M University football team’s comeback at Jackson State came up short in a 34-28 loss Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“I thought we came out in the first half and didn’t play our brand of football,” said PVAMU head coach Eric Dooley. “We weren’t flying around, and as I’ve said before, we have to be able to stop the run. Most importantly, we weren’t able to put the ball in the end zone. We had a couple of opportunities to score and we let them slip away.”
QB Trazon Connley nearly rallied the Panthers from a 24-0 second-quarter deficit. Playing the final three quarters, Connley completed 19 of 30 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 12 times for 110 yards and one touchdown in leading four touchdown drives.
“We had been working that (scenario) all during practice because we wanted to see some competition just to spark (starting QB) Jalen (Morton) a little bit,” Dooley said. “I thought it did, but Jalen didn’t come out with a strong game in the first couple of series that he had. Trazon came in like he’s been there before. He played exceptionally well for us. I was pleased to see that for him.”
Connley got PVAMU on the board prior to halftime. His six-yard scoring pass to Markcus Hardy with six seconds to play cut the Panthers’ deficit to 24-7 at intermission.
After a JSU field goal, Connley led a four-play, 81-yard drive capped off by his 72-yard scoring run to make the score 27-14 with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter.
Following a Jackson State touchdown, the Panthers answered in the fourth quarter. A 10-play, 65-yard drive ended with the first of two Connley-to-Zarrian Holcombe touchdown passes that again made it a two-score game at 34-21 with 11:41 remaining.
Late in the period, a nine-play, 54-yard drive ended with a Connley to Holcombe 11-yard scoring pass with 2:45 remaining for the final margin. JSU recovered the on-side kick and ran out the clock.
“I’m proud of the players because they did come out in the second half and show that they will fight, and they will fight to the end,” Dooley said. “They gave it a good run at the end, but of course we didn’t have the ending results that we wanted. There’s still a lot of things we have to work on. We make no excuses. We’ll just buckle up and go back to work.”
Following an open date, Prairie View A&M football returns to action Saturday, Nov. 17 vs. Alabama State at 1 p.m. at Panther Stadium.
Courtesy: PVAMU Athletics
