New Prairie View football coach Tremaine Jackson swears the season-opening Labor Day Classic against Texas Southern got off to the strangest start he has ever seen.
The game at Shell Energy Stadium was delayed over an hour because of inclement weather and excessive water on the field, which the Tigers share with the professional soccer teams. That meant all of the game-day rituals were pushed back, and things like kickers warming up just didn’t happen.
But all made sense in the end for Jackson when his quarterback, Cam Peters, stood tall in the pocket and fired a 17-yard dart into the clutches of wide receiver Rodny Ojo as time expired, giving the Panthers an improbable 22-21 win.
Much of the crowd, holding its collective breath on both sides, erupted and so did the Panthers on the field after achieving their desired result the first time with their new coach and coaching staff. The game finished in just under four hours and ended five minutes shy of extending into the next day.
“A lot of crazy things happened in this game,” said Jackson, who is the reigning Division II Coach of the Year after leading Valdosta State to an undefeated regular season and the national championship game. “It’s the first time I’ve ever coached a game without the kickers warming up and anything like that.
“We just kind of had to roll off the bus and go.”
And to work they went.
It was far from perfect on either side of the field, but in the end, the Panthers made just enough plays and showed just enough resolve to pull it out.
Just 1 minute 16 seconds before Peters fired the game-winning touchdown pass, it appeared that the Tigers had sealed it when quarterback K.J. Cooper found Roriyon Richardson for a 15-yard touchdown strike to end a 10-play 88-yard drive that took 4:53 off the clock.
But undaunted by a long field and little time on the clock, the Panthers gathered themselves and moved the ball down the field to the Tigers’ 2-yard line. But one of the Panthers’ ill-timed penalties took a touchdown off the board and pushed them back to the 17-yard line with two seconds remaining.
That was all the time Prairie View needed. The Panthers had practiced their two-minute drill two days before the game and followed the script in the waning moments.
“I know pretty much we were calm because we practiced this before, we’ve been here before,” said Peters, who completed 22 of 38 passes for 295 yards, one touchdown and one interception. “We had a two-minute drive in practice, and we completed it then and then we completed it in the game. That was pretty much a show of what we’ve been doing and the resiliency we have been practicing.”
While the game was defined by strong defensive play and miscues that led to a 14-14 tie at halftime, it became a different game at the end of the fourth quarter when both teams’ offenses capitalized on big plays.
However, one team was left feeling confident, while the other exited, resolved to bounce back and not allow one game to define its season.
“At the end of the day, we are going to give God all the praise and glory,” said Cooper, who completed 11 of 16 passes for 132 yards and one touchdown. “He didn’t bring us this far to leave us hanging. We are just thankful for this opportunity, and we are going to learn from it. This season is not over. We are going to just keep working every single day. Change is going on at Texas Southern. Change is already being made.”
“It’s a rivalry game. I think we gave the fans what they wanted. But ultimately we got a win and that’s what we came here to do.”
Tremaine Jackson
Jackson credits the win to how hard his team has worked since the spring to get to this point. The former Tiger player and assistant coach at TSU, Jackson brought in 70 new players to fill his roster. There were a lot of miscues, like 15 penalties for 159 yards, but he credits his team for its perseverance and resolve.
“I think it speaks to the way our guys prepare,” Jackson said. “These guys have been going, going and going. I haven’t seen everybody in the country practice, but I know don’t nobody practice like us. These guys have been through it, and I think you saw their resiliency show up. I’m just extremely happy to be their coach.”
Jackson’s happiness showed after a week of barbs and insults being thrown between him and TSU coach Cris Dishman. Dishman chided Jackson for referring to his players as DOGS and invited him to take a piece of grass from Shell Energy Stadium for memory’s sake.
So when Jackson showed up for the postgame press conference he sat a chunk of grass in front of him.
“I guess I’m not supposed to call them that,” Jackson said in reference to DOGS. “Don’t nobody like my jokes, so I’m going to take me and my grass and I’m going to just go ahead about my business and get ready for next week.”
