Panthers victorious in seesaw battle
PRAIRIE VIEW — Houston Baptist and Prairie View A&M both have offenses that play at a fast pace, go through a surplus of motions and shifts, and try to give the ball to players in open space.
Defenses were severely tested on Saturday night at Panther Stadium, especially early. In a tightly contested game that had five lead changes, Prairie View came out on top 37-27. The teams were playing each other in football for the first time.
The Panthers didn’t secure the victory until Logan Jackson’s 15-yard interception return for touchdown off a Desmond Young pass with 3:29 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“Pretty much a heartbreak in terms of how this game played out,” Huskies coach Vic Shealy said.
HBU (0-3) played well enough to win but remains winless.
In addition to suffering its third straight loss, the Huskies were dealt a huge blow when starting quarterback Blaise Bentsen suffered a concussion and did not set foot on the field in the second half. Bentsen threw three first-half touchdown passes, guiding the Huskies to a 24-23 halftime lead.
“Offensively, it was great to see us do some things that probably were more in character of who we are offensively,” Shealy said. “We’ll see where we need to improve.”
Bentsen’s counterpart Jawon Pass threw two touchdown passes. He also led the Panthers to three touchdowns on each of their first three series in building up a 16-point lead he connected with Evan Fairs on a 68-yard scoring pass.
“It was our first home game, so that made it even better,” Pass said. “Our defense came up big.”
In the final minutes, the Panthers intercepted Young twice. None bigger than Jackson’s pick-six when he read the receiver’s route perfectly.
“He had thrown over a couple drives earlier and I told myself it he throws it again he’s got to pay for it,” Jackson said. “I seen it, I seen the route. I just trusted what my coaches taught me. I came out and made the play to help the team win.”
Young, who did not take a snap over the first two quarters, played quarterback the entire second half for the Huskies, who led 21-20 at the end of the first quarter.
The Huskies were outscored 14-3 without Bentsen on the field. Young, a sophomore, was playing extended minutes for the first time of his career.
“There’s some areas where we’re a little young and this game makes you grow up fast if you want to win ballgames,” Shealy said. “We’re not quite there yet at the level we want to be.”
Gino Garcia was successful on field goals of 44 and 25 yards for HBU. The Huskies’ Tyson Thompson returned a first-half kickoff 65 yards. The Klein product returned the kickoff to open the second half 55 yards.
Jaden Stewart’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5:07 left in the third quarter gave the Panthers the lead for good at 30-27.
Bentsen came into the game throwing two touchdown passes, offset by four interceptions. Against the Panthers the 6-5 Bentsen threw two scoring passes to Ismael Fuller and one to true freshman Charles King of North Shore. Bentsen is developing a connection this season with King, who scored on an 11-yard reception
While offenses were hard to stop, plays were made on defense. Cornerback Jordan Oliver gave the Huskies their first interception of the season late in the opening half that led to the 44-yardfield goal by Garcia.
Garcia’s field goal came as the first half expired, giving the Huskies a 24-23, the game’s fourth lead change. A roughing-the-passer penalty put the Huskies back into field-goal range, and led to an untimed down, setting up Garcia’s go-ahead field goal.
Luis Reyes’ 27-yard field goal had given the Panthers a 23-21 advantage with 9:25 remaining in the second quarter.
Both teams scored on their opening drives. The Panthers covered 81 yards in six plays, scoring a touchdown less than two minutes into the contest. Prairie View went up 6-0 on Lyndemian Brooks’ 1-yard scoring run, following the block of left guard Kolbi Lewis, a Cypress Springs product.
“The type of offense we want to run is to be explosive and make big plays,” Panthers coach Eric Dooley said.
HBU responded with a quick score as well. At the 12:03 mark of the first quarter the Huskies went ahead 7-6 on a 28-yard scoring pass from Bentsen to Fuller. Kicking the ball away with the lead was a first this season for the Huskies, who never led in their first two games at New Mexico and
against Northern Colorado.