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NORMAL – The Alabama A&M Bulldogs moved to 3-0 for the first time since 2007 with a 42-30 victory over Prairie View A&M University on Saturday night.
Debuting on their brand new Matrix artificial turf field, the first Southwestern Athletic Conference team to play at home on such surface, A&M scored 42 points for the first time since the 45-0 thrashing of Central State in the first Louis Crews Classic in 2010.
Senior Deaunte Mason was responsible for 279 yards on 22 of 29 passing with three touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns on nine carries for 36 yards. His numbers represented a career night. Kaderius Lacey finished the game with 67 yards on 22 rushes and accounted for three crucial first downs that led to scores for the Maroon & White. Mason’s favorite target on the evening was Rashaad DeJarnett who accounted for six receptions for 130 yards and a TD. Tight end Booby Goldbsy had his best performance on “The Hill” with five catches for 74 yards and his first and second touchdown of his collegiate career. Defensively senior Vernon Marshall led all tacklers with 11 stops (8 solo, 3 assisted) and one for a loss. Starting his first game at free safety, Julius Williams totaled five tackles, a fumble recovery, and a 10 yard interception return.
The 72 points scored started off with a Williams fumble recovery that setup a Mason to DeJarnett 36 yard touchdown pass. PV answered with a six play 77 yard hurry up offensive drive that went only 1:32 seconds.
A&M would regain the lead at the 11:26 mark in the second quarter with a touchdown pass from Mason to Bobby Goldsby for his first TD on the evening. Prairie View then tied the score with a 14 yard scamper by quarterback De’Auntre Smiley.
Mason then rushed for a nine yard touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 21-14 but once again the Panthers answered with a nine yard pass from Smiley to wide receiver Deandre Cooper to even the score at halftime 21 all.
The Panthers opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 28 yard field goal to take a 24-21 lead. On the very next drive A&M scored to take a 28-24 lead. The scoring continued on PV’s next drive with a Chris Barrick 32 yard field goal.
A third straight Barrick field goal would extend the Panthers score to 30 but it would be their last of the game as A&M scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter on a pass from Mason to Goldbsy and a Mason rush to secure the first 3-0 start for a Jones led squad in five years.
“Mason told his teammates he was going to leave everything on the line and asked if his teammates could do the same,” said head coach Anthony Jones. “His comments were spiritual and emotional and it got us going.”
“We knew PV was going to be aggressive against the run so we put in a few more play action plays and we worked it pretty good tonight,” Jones mentioned. “The first game we hampered ourselves with penalties, the next game we used eight minutes and 17 seconds to secure the win in the fourth quarter. Tonight all the things we’ve been working on came together.”
Jones continued, “Our defense got us a lot of points with the stops they came up with. By them ending the Panthers drives it put us in positions to score.”
The win was Jones 75th as the head coach of the Bulldogs
A&M will go for 4-0 when they travel to Houston, Texas on Saturday, September 22nd. There they will take on Texas Southern University at BBVA Compass stadium. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.
