HOW THEY DID IT - Pioneer Bowl Recap
Tuskegee 58, Virginia Union 51
Tuskegee rallied from an early 17-point deficit to go up by 26 points and then survived a fierce Virginia Union rally to score in the game's final minute and pull out its sixth Pioneer Bowl victory in a shootout in Columbia, S.C. Saturday. The BCSP No. 1 Golden Tigers (12-0) finished the season as the only undefeated team in black college football but they had to dig deep to do it. They fell behind 17-0 in the first quarter as VUU QB Lamar Little threw the first two of his record six touchdown passes on 84- and 75-yard bombs to Michael Hampton (4 rec., 183 yards). VUU's Robert Edwards' 24-yard field goal with 2:45 left staked the Panthers (9-3) to the 17-0 lead at the end of the quarter. Tuskegee responded with a dominant second quarter shutting out VUU while registering three of a pivotal 11 sacks against Little and also picking off one of his aerials as they scored five touchdowns and a safety to take a 36-17 halftime lead. VUU got on the board first in the third period on Little's third TD, this one 18 yards to Steven Miller (5 rec., 113 yards) with 5:54 left that brought them within 36-24. TU responded with two more TDs, a 1-yard run by Richard Fitzhugh, his third short TD run on the day, and a five-yard run by Tony Forney which followed a VUU fumble on the kickoff. Trailing 50-24 entering the fourth quarter, Little (17-33-2, 455 yards, 6 TDs) threw three more scoring passes, 18 yards to Miller with 10:58 left, 22 yards to Phillip Taylor (3 rec., 117 yards) with 4:42 left and 22 yards to Steven Cunningham with 3:18 to go to pull within 50-44. The Panthers completed the remarkable comeback and took the lead 51-50 five plays later when Niles Rainey recovered a fumble by TU QB Jacary Atkinson and returned it 50 yards for a TD at the 1:43 mark. After the ensuing kickoff, TU needed just five plays to get the game-winning score with Atkinson hitting Jason English with a 57-yard strike with :46 left. Little was sacked twice in the Panthers final possession, the second ending in a safety. Atkinson finished 18 for 28 for 275 yards and three TDs. English had four receptions for 126 yards.
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