Sports

G-Men continue their winless ways

Wide reciever Quintin Guice (no. 13) adds a touchdown, but Grambling State came up short against Prairie View, 42-36. Lexy Beck/The Gramblinite

Quarterback Geremy Hickbottom (no. 19) finished with 21 completions for 158 yards. Lexy Beck/The Gramblinite

The Grambling State Tigers struggled against the Prairie View A&M University Panthers in the State Fair Classic in Dallas, Texas.

GSU started off with a strong first quarter and had the Panthers on their toes.

The Tigers first drive resulted in a touchdown in just over two minutes, keeping consistent with the no huddle, fast paced offense style of offensive coordinator Mark Orlando.  

PVAM responded a few drives later with a 61-yard touchdown run by no. 1 Dawonya Tucker.  

Grambling drove it to the red zone on the next drive, but were stuffed outside of the end zone and settled for a 24-yard field goal. 

After a good beginning, a fumble from PVAM led to a Grambling recovery and another score by running back Kevin Dominique to earn a 17-10 lead.

The Panthers responded with yet another touchdown run by running back Dawonya Tucker, who ended the game with a monster 263 yards rushing.

The first quarter ended with GSU up 17-14. After PVAM tied the score up 17-17, the Tigers came up with an interception return to a touchdown to take the lead, but a missed PAT kept the lead to just six points at 23-17. That would be the last time the Tiger offense scored until the fourth quarter. 

The Panthers tacked on two additional touchdowns to lead 31-23 going into the half.

Prairie View ended the first half with over 200 yards rushing and over 100 yards throwing. Grambling had just 45 yards on the ground and 142 yards through the air.

The third quarter saw no scoring and slowed the game down with the tension of a comeback still a possibility for the Tigers.

As the fourth quarter began, the Panthers tacked on an additional touchdown and two-point conversion in addition to a field goal off of a Geremy Hickbottom interception.

With the lead at 42-23, the game seemed almost all but over.

The tides seemed to change as the Tigers were able to score a touchdown but failed on the two-point conversion to sit at 42-29. 

The defense from Grambling held up and forced a punt block and scooped and scored by freshman defensive back Quincy Mitchell and settled for a PAT.

With the score now 42-36, the Tigers elected for an onside kick attempt, yet missed the mark by only a yard to hand the possession back to Prairie View who closed the game out to secure themselves a victory.

With this loss, the Grambling State team moves to 0-4 on the season.

The last time that the Tigers had four straight losses to begin the season was in 2013. The team won only one game that year.

G-Men will travel to a one-win Jackson State team, aiming for their first win, before playing in their first home game this year against Alabama A&M.