Prairie View tops Texas Southern in Labor Day Classic 40-17

HOUSTON – In his debut as a Panther Jawon Pass put on an offensive show on Saturday night as Prairie View A&M defeated the Texas Southern Tigers 40-17 in the 36th Annual Labor Day Classic and season opener for both teams. Pass recorded game highs as well as head coach Eric Dooley remains unbeaten in the Classic.

“I thought he played well tonight,” Dooley said of Pass. “He made some mistakes with this win, but we will go take a look at the film and go back and make some corrections. This is his first time in this atmosphere, but he made the adjustments and got the jitters out and this is why we made him our leader.

Pass a transfer from Louisville and a native of Columbus, Ga., led the Panthers offensive juggernaut that put up 486 yards of total offense on 75 plays. He completed 25 of 37 passes for 354 yards with three passing touchdowns.

Red-shirt senior receiver Jailon Howard recorded a career-best two touchdown grabs in the game and added 136 yards. He scored the first receiving touchdown of the game, with a 59-yard reception from Pass, his second catch came in the opening of the third quarter that added seven more points to push the halftime lead from 20-3 to 27.

Another receiver, senior Antonio Mullins, added a touchdown on a 14-yard catch, hauling in 10 passes for a second-team best of 131 yards.

Junior running back Raymond Graham in his debut as a Panther hauled in the first touchdown for the Panthers to take a 6-3 lead over the Tigers. He also closed the scoring frenzy out to put the Panthers ahead 40-17 on a one-yard run with four minutes to go in the game.

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Another newcomer to the Panthers team, transfer graduate student Lyndemian Brooks rushed for a team-high of 54 yards and one TD. The Austin, Texas native had his longest run of 25 yards on the night. He also had three receptions for 17 yards.

Senior kicker Luis Reyes chipped in two field goals in the game, one from 28 yards and one from 31 yards. He added nine points on the night.

Turning to the defense senior corner Drake Cheatum one of the players from Dooley’s first recruiting class posted a game high of nine tackles (4 solo, 5 assisted). Senior linebacker Tre’Shaud Smith had a team high of six solo tackles with two assisted totaling eight, and one tackle for loss on four yards.

A name that was often called frequently during the game was redshirt senior transfer native of Houston, Texas Rashaud Powell. Powell who pounced all over TSU’s quarterback a few times only received credit for one sack and a loss of six yards. He had six total tackles (3 solo, 3 assisted).

There were three players on the defense who each posted five tackles apiece, junior defensive back Bryce Turner (4 solo, 1 assisted), sophomore linebacker Warren Shankle (3 solo, 2 assisted) and linebacker Tre’Vion Green (2 solo, 3 assisted).

The defense only allowed two touchdowns and a 22 yard field goal in the game and 274 total yards in the game, with 93 yards rushing, and 181 yards in the air. The Tigers had possession of the ball for 23 minutes in the entire game.

The Panthers will return to action when they travel to San Antonio, Texas to face Incarnate Word on Sept. 11 for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Courtesy: Prairie View A&M Athletics