ITTA BENA, Mississippi – The Prairie View A&M University football team won its ninth consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference game with a 56-21 win at Mississippi Valley State Saturday at Rice-Totten Stadium.
WR Anthony Wiltz scored a touchdown via punt return, receiving and rushing, and CB Terrence Singleton made two interceptions, returning one for touchdown, as the Panthers (3-1 overall, 3-0 SWAC) overcame a bit of a sluggish start to beat Valley (0-4. 0-3).
"That's why you play three phases," Prairie View A&M head coach Willie Simmons said. "You have to score on defense. You have to score in the kicking game. Good teams have to have that. Teams that score a lot, the offense isn't the only one that scores. We challenged the defense and special teams this week to be the difference and make some big plays for us. We had a special teams score, which was good to see."
Wiltz made magic in the first quarter, drifting back to his 23-yard line to field the punt. He weaved through defenders, and used great blocking en route to a 77-yard return for touchdown to give the Panthers a 13-7 lead.
In the third quarter, Wiltz caught a 49-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to give PVAMU a 42-14 lead, and ended the scoring with a 29-yard run for score in the final period.
"Seniors step up in big games," said Simmons of Wiltz, who had 151 all-purpose yards on only four touches. "Anthony is a guy that has played some snaps for us, and started a number of games for us last year. It was good to see him have a big game. He had a big punt return for a touchdown, and had some big catches and big runs late in the game. He works extremely hard, is an unselfish player, and when his time came he showed up."
Singleton's pick six got the Panthers on the board on the first series of the game. His interception later in the third quarter set up a Calob Broach 15-yard scoring run on the next play. Singleton has three interceptions in the last two games.
"He continues to be a big time player for us out on the edge," said Simmons of Singleton, who had seven tackles in the game. "We're going to need that. We're going to go up against some really good wide outs in the next few weeks. It's good to have a shutdown corner. He's being that for us. He's allowing us to do a lot of things coverage-wise because he can take away one half of the field. He continues to show week in and week out why he's one of the top corners in this league."
The interception return for touchdown by Singleton and the punt return for touchdown by Wiltz kept the PVAMU offense off the field for most of the first quarter. As the offense got going in the second quarter, the defense scored on a safety and limited Valley to 29 yards total offense in the period.
Overall, the Panthers made three interceptions (Ju'Anthony Parker had the other INT), had five sacks, and held on five of eight fourth-down attempts by Valley. DeVohn Reed had 10 tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss for the Panthers.
"We had a defensive touchdown, scored a safety, and had a lot of turnovers," Simmons said. "Those guys continue to be opportunistic, and find a way to get the ball. In order for us to be as good as we can be in the conference, we're going to have to continue to do that."
Prairie View A&M returns to action next Saturday against Grambling State in the State Fair Classic at 4 p.m.
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PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS
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