College Sports

By HAROLD WILSON
Staff Writer

PRAIRIE VIEW -- Another school from the SWAC cut Texas College zero slack.

Prairie View A&M mechanically dismantled Texas College, scoring seven different ways and blanking the Steers, 53-0, Saturday at Blackshear Field.

The Panthers produced three touchdowns running, two on fumble recoveries, one passing and one on an interception return. The Panthers put the rest of their points on the board off a safety, field goal and six extra points.

With the win, PV (2-0) unleashed five years of frustration on the Steers, who upset the Panthers 21-10 on their homecoming in the school's first season back on the football field after a four-decade absence.

TC (0-2) received its second-worst loss in the modern era dating back just five years, coming close to a 60-6 setback to Texas A&M-Kingsville in the 2005 opener. Mississippi Valley State skunked TC 38-0 last week in the Steers' first of three matchups with SWAC schools -- the last set for Sept. 20 in the East Texas Classic in Tyler against Texas Southern.

The PV defense dominated the Steers, holding them to 101 total yards and only 14 passing. TC missed the production of junior quarterback X'Zavier Bloodsaw, still slowed by an arm injury suffered against MVSU.

"We turned the ball over way too much to be successful against a team like that," Texas College coach Jay Brown said. "It kind of got away from us. That's the main concern (offense). We've got help coming. Right now we're struggling a little bit at that position."

Mark Spivey, who played QB for the '03 PV team that lost to TC, did his part to avoid a repeat. Spivey, a 6-5 senior from Houston who has missed two years of playing time due to injuries, completed 11 of 19 passes for 181 yards and a TD. Spivey scrambled 21 yards for what resulted in another score in the second quarter after teammate Donald Babers fell on his fumble in the end zone.

Babers scored first for PV on a 10-yard scamper and Brady Faggard followed with a 24-yard field goal to put the Panthers ahead 10-0 after one quarter.

The loss five years earlier, cinched late by Jonathan Combs' TD run and somersault over the plane, remained fresh in Spivey's mind.

"In '03 they did a flip on our home field. This was definitely (about) payback," Spivey said. "Perennial losers, that's what Prairie View was. Coach (Henry) Frazier changed the whole way how we think about things. "

Where PV's offense rested, the Panther defense did not.

Early into the second quarter, after a Pedro Ventura punt pinned TC at its own 1-yard line, a gang of defenders for the home team tackled Fred Dixon in the end zone for a safety.

Spivey's long run completed the first-half scoring and the Panthers wasted little time adding to the lead after the break.

Quinton Spears sprinted 10 yards on a fumble return for a TD, and Jason Fobbs picked off his second interception and returned the pick 48 yards for six.

Spivey spotted Shaun Stephens for a 44-yard TD pass later in the third and Michael Jason and Jerome Tarver scored on runs of 4 and 1, respectively, to finish the rout.

"Our d-line made the quarterback do a lot of things he didn't want to do," Fobbs said. "We made sure we didn't take them lightly like we did a couple of years ago."

STEER SCOOP: Where TC played outside its league (NAIA) the past two weeks, PV next plays Sam Houston State, a school twice its size, albeit also a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly NCAA Division I-AA). TC hopes to catch a break with a game at Division III Howard Payne on Saturday.

Prairie View 53, Texas College 0

At Blackshear Stadium

Texas College�0�0�0�0�0

Prairie View�10�9�20�14�53

First Quarter

PV -- Donald Babers 10 run (Brady Faggard kick), 10:50 PV -- FG 24 Faggard, 8:20 Second Quarter PV -- Fred Dixon tackled in end zone for safety, 14:05 PV -- Mark Spivey 21 run, Babers fumble recovery in end zone (Kyle Mathews kick), 5:45 Third Quarter PV -- Quinton Spears 10 fumble recovery (kick blocked), 14:49 PV -- Jason Fobbs 48 interception return (Faggard kick), 11:35 PV -- Shaun Stephens 44 pass from Spivey (Faggard kick), 8:10 Fourth Quarter PV -- Michael Jason 4 run (Faggard kick), 8:38 PV -- Jerome Tarver 1 run (Pedro Ventura kick), 4:15 EST.ATT. -- 5562.

TC�PV

First Downs�7�20

Rushes-Yards�31-87�38-186

Passing Yards�14�185

Com.-Att.-Int.�5-17-3�13-24-0

Punts-Avg.�9-32.0�4-38.8

Fumbles-Lost�2-1�5-1

Penalties-Yards�12-80�10-85

Third-Down Conv.�0-11�2-12

Fourth-Down Conv.�0-1�2-3

Sacks By-Yards�2-15�2-16

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Texas College, Fred Dixon 20-79, Joe Carter 9-9, Lawrence Smith 2-(-1). Prairie View A&M, Jerome Tarver 8-66, Michael Jason 12-66, Mark Spivey 4-35, Donald Babers 9-14, John Barnes 1-3, Jay Bluford, 4-2.

PASSING -- -Texas College, Carter 4-11-1 -- 25, Voshaun Johnson 1-6-2 -- 5, Team 0-0-0 -- (-16). Prairie View A&M, Spivey 11-19-0 -- 181, Bluford 2-4-0 -- 19, Babers 0-1-0 -- 0, Team 0-0-0-(-15).

RECEIVING -- Texas College, Dixon 2-13, Tim Jones 2-12, Justin Williams 1-5. Prairie View A&M, Shaun Stephens 3-73, Anthony Weeden 3-29, Justin Bell 2-19, Brandon Bell 2-7, Joe Townsend 1-54, Gabe Ediae 1-10, Jason 1-8.