September 27, 2008 – LOS ANGELES – Playing before the largest audience in school history, the Maroon Tigers put up a valiant effort against Prairie View A&M, but fell short 28-17.
The Farmers Angel City Classic was the first ever clash between Morehouse and Prairie View A&M, an emerging powerhouse in the Division 1-AA Southwest Athletic Conference.
Broadcast live on the local FOX-TV affiliate, the game attracted more than 52,000 to the cavernous Memorial Stadium, home of the University of Southern California. It featured a post-game concert and a star-studded sideline. The game was tape-delayed on the East Coast and will be re-broadcast on Tuesday on FOX’s FSN channel at 7:30 p.m.
The game was closer than the score suggests and was decided by two big plays – a PVAM interception returned for a 60-yard touchdown and a bad snap by the Morehouse center that became a 32-yard fumble recovery for a Panther touchdown. The latter came with 1:34 on the clock and Morehouse trailing 21-17 and stifled any hope of a Maroon Tiger comeback.
It was a game of contrasting halves. Morehouse dominated the first; Prairie View the second, when it counted most.
In the first half, Christian Sterling directed two scoring drives of 80 yards each. Each scoring drive consumed 12 plays and featured mostly pass completions that ate up huge chunks of yardage. By game’s end, Sterling had connected on 32-of-51 passes for 328 yards and a touchdown.
The first drive was capped by running back Pernez Pinckney who swung out of the backfield, took a Sterling pass and dashed 15 yards for the first Morehouse score, with just under a minute left in the first.
Pinckney punched it in again from the 2-yard line in the second quarter. A 22-yard field goal by Micah Streiff gave the Maroon Tigers a 17-14 halftime lead, but that was the end of the Morehouse scoring.
Rushing yardage was the difference in the game. Four Morehouse running backs rushed 20 times for 24 yards. On the other side, four PVAM rushers carried 37 times for 267 yards, most of them by Donald Babers who collected 180 yards on 24 carries.
Linebackers Brandon Cunningham and Earl Thomas, with eight tackles each, and Jeffrey Cargile and Derrick Scott, with seven tackles apiece, led the Morehouse defense.
Quincy Avery led the receivers with 73 yards on eight catches and Achille Hendje and James Steadman has six each.
Morehouse fell to 3-2 (3-1 SIAC); PVAM upped their record to 4-0.
The Maroon Tigers have an open week to prepare for Tuskegee in the Classic in Columbus, GA, October 11, at 2:30 p.m. That game will be covered by ESPNU and broadcast via tape delay at 10:30 p.m.
