ITTA BENA, Miss. – For more than 59 minutes, the Prairie View A&M Panthers remained ahead of 0Mississippi Valley State, but unfortunately, the game came down to the final 10 seconds as the Delta Devils scored a late touchdown to claim a 22-20 victory on Saturday afternoon at Rice-Totten Stadium.

The Panther defense started off with a bang as senior cornerback Ricky Simpson scooped up a fumble and raced 60 yards for the score with 13:50 remaining in the first quarter.  The defense kept the momentum up throughout the quarter as they forced the Delta Devils to three consecutive punts.  However, the Panther offense had trouble sustaining drives as they punted three times in addition to throwing an interception.

Late in the first quarter, the Delta Devils put together their first scoring drive of the afternoon as they marched deep into Prairie View A&M territory.  However, the PV defense held ground as MVSU settled for a 21-yard field goal early with 12 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Once again, the PV offense stalled to begin the second quarter after its third punt of the game but the defense came up big on the ensuing possession as junior linebacker Raheem Cardwell picked off a pass which was deflected off a PV defender.  The Panthers drove all the way to the Delta Devil 15 but had to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Chris Barrick as they led 10-3 with 8:28 left in the second quarter.

Things began to change on MVSU's next drive as the Panther defense was flagged for an offsides call on 4^th-and-1 which allowed the Delta Devils to extend the drive at the PV 25.  Five plays later, Mississippi Valley State closed the deficit to one point following a 9-yard Garrick Jones pass to Julian Stafford.  Kevin Monzon's PAT was good as the game was knotted at 10-all.

With their backs against the wall, Prairie View's offense rose to the occasion as quarterback De'Auntre Smiley went 4-for-4 on the next drive coupled with a first down rush from freshman Johnta' Hebert to move PV into scoring position.  Senior wideout Spencer Nelson capped the drive off in style with a 7-yard run in the middle as PV broke the tie with a 17-10 lead following Barrick's PAT.

The MVSU offense provided a scare to the PV defense late in the first half but the Panthers held on as time expired with the Delta Devils driving to the PV 5.

The third quarter was relatively quiet as the Panthers tacked on a 38-yard field goal from Barrick early in the quarter for a two-possession lead at 20-10.

Mississippi Valley State made things interesting to begin the fourth quarter as they marched 66 yards in 18 plays.  Garrick Jones capped off the drive with a 1-yard rush for a 20-16 deficit.  The PAT was blocked by PV but the ball advanced to the endzone and the Delta Devils jumped on the ball and looked to pick up an easy two points. However, since the kick was blocked, the points came off the board as PV led 20-16 with 7:06 remaining.

The Panthers switched quarterbacks on the ensuing drive and went to the run as they milked 5:10 off the clock.  However, the drive stalled and the team was forced to punt as MVSU began the eventual winning drive at its own 20.

MVSU marched deep into PV territory and a critical pass interference call against the Panthers gave MVSU the ball at the PV 10 with 20 seconds remaining.  After an incomplete pass, Jones rushed in from 10 yards out for a late touchdown with 14 seconds left.  The PAT was successful as the Delta Devils led 23-20.

PV never got on track on its last drive as the Delta Devils pulled off the victory in dramatic fashion.

The Panthers totaled 304 offensive yards on the afternoon with sophomore running back Fred Anderson leading the way with 77 yards on 13 carries.  Junior wideout Robert Primes had a career game with 91 yards on nine receptions while Smiley passed for 145 yards on 17-of-28 passing.  Defensively, sophomore linebacker Jerome Howard led the Panthers with 12 tackles followed by 10 stops from Brian Medlock.

The season comes to a close next week in Pine Bluff, Ark. as the Panthers face Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 2:30 p.m. in Golden Lion Stadium.