Sports

UAPB STILL HAS LOTS TO PLAY FOR AGAINST PRAIRIE VIEW A&M

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:12 AM CST

When Prairie View A&M’s Donald Babers scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter on Saturday in Lorman, Miss., he essentially put aside any hopes Alcorn State may have had to upset this season’s best team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s victory over Grambling State on Nov. 7 ensured the Golden Lions were still in the chase for the Southwestern Athletic Conference Western Division until Prairie View beat Alcorn Nov. 14 to clinch the division. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

What Babers’ short run also did, though, was end the hopes of any other SWAC Western Division team from creeping up to steal the division title during the season’s final few weeks, including Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

When UAPB plays at Prairie View at 1 p.m. Saturday, the game won’t be to keep its West title hopes alive, as coach Monte Coleman and players hoped all last week. Those hopes were dashed as the Panthers (7-1, 6-0), ranked 20th in The Sports Network Football Championship Poll, beat Alcorn 34-14 to clinch its first ever Western Division title with the victory.

“We’re playing for pride right now,” Coleman said on Monday.

Defensive end Jared Dorn was trying to keep up with Saturday’s game online, while he was enjoying a day-off during UAPB’s final bye week of the season. If Alcorn would have beaten the Panthers, the Golden Lions could have reached the Dec. 12 title game with a win over Prairie View on Saturday and Texas Southern Nov. 28.

Dorn wasn’t checking for long.

“It was 21-0 in the first half and I knew it was downhill from there,” he said.

Alcorn cut the lead to 21-7 when it recovered a blocked punt in the end zone in the third quarter. But Babers’ score, which was set up by an interception returned to the Braves’ 14-yard line, allowed the Panthers to cruise to the finish.

Quarterback Josh Boudreaux called the news “a hard pill to swallow.”

He said he was following it online, too, and was exchanging text messages with members of the coaching staff.

Still, though, Boudreaux insists the Golden Lions will have reasons to compete on Saturday, even if a chance to win a conference championship is no longer on the table. First and foremost, he said, is building momentum going into next season.

If UAPB wins Saturday and Nov. 28 against Texas Southern in Dallas, its 7-3 finish will display a more than 100 percent improvement over last season. Boudreaux, a junior, said he and the underclassmen owe that type of finish to a group of seniors who are finishing careers that have seen a fluctuation between success and disappointment.

He also said Prairie View’s rise this season to the top of the SWAC standings serves as another motivator.

“They’re ranked, they’re undefeated (in the SWAC),” Boudreaux said. “They don’t know how it feels to lose games. So we want to go out there and play hard and get a win from this team and come back and celebrate.”

UAPB, which hasn’t played since it beat Grambling State 49-42 Nov. 7 in Little Rock, spent most of last week not thinking much about this week’s challenging opponent. Coleman said it was used as a period of self-evaluation.

“You go in, throw out some (plays) that didn’t work and you add the ones that did,” he said. “We looked at our run game, pass game, run defense and pass defense. ... It was just a good week for us.”

UAPB’s passing game was perhaps the most encouraging thing to come out of last week’s Grambling win. Boudreaux, in his third start, completed 11 of 18 passes for 167 yards and had touchdown throws of 41 and 33 yards. He said the more wide-open style that was shown at times against the Tigers just may remain.

“If coach wants to open it up, we’re going to open it up,” Boudreaux said. “If we pound the football, we’re going to pound the football. We’re going to throw the ball, we’re going to run the ball. We’re dangerous at times.”

Saturday will be the third straight week in which the Golden Lions play one of the top teams in the conference.

After a loss to Southern Oct. 31 and the win over Grambling, UAPB will play a Prairie View team that ranks third in the league in scoring offense (26.9 points) and first in scoring defense (15.6)). After a 20-17 loss to Football Bowl Subdivision member New Mexico State on Sept. 12, the Panthers have won six straight games and have won 18 of their last 20 dating back to 2007.

It’s a resume that, if tarnished a bit on Saturday, could do a lot for a team that is using the final two games of the season to create positive vibes around a still-building program.

“I do understand that Prairie View has clinched, (but) this is a game that we want to win,” Coleman said. “If we go down and play well, and have a chance to win, it will be a feather in our cap heading into next season.”

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