When Prairie View quarterback Cameron Peters looked up at the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter, he didn’t see pressure. He saw a chance to make history.
Facing third-and-8 near midfield, with just over two minutes left in regulation, Peters tucked the ball and darted right through the middle for 12 yards, dragging defenders and the clock with him. That run sealed the game. That run sealed a championship.
Behind a dazzling 394-yard performance from their poised and relentless quarterback, Prairie View outlasted Jackson State 23–21 on Saturday to capture the program’s first SWAC championship since 2009.
Peters, who was named the SWAC Championship Game Offensive MVP, made all the plays when they mattered most. He completed 17 of 28 passes for 294 yards and a 40-yard scoring strike to Cameron Bonner that silenced a roaring Jackson State crowd. On the ground, he bruised and slipped his way to 100 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that gave Prairie View an early 7-0 lead.
4⃣ Draws first blood
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— Prairie View A&M Football (@pvamufb_) December 6, 2025
But the defining moments came not in highlight form, but in grit and control. With a 23–21 lead in the fourth quarter, the Panthers embarked on a marathon 16-play, 95-yard drive that consumed 9 minutes and 36 seconds. It ended painfully — Peters lost the ball on a fumble at the 1-yard line — but Prairie View’s defense held firm, forcing a punt just three plays later.
“We love to live in the clutch,” said first-year Panthers coach Tremaine Jackson, who predicted in the preseason that his team would immediately compete for a conference championship run.
Diego Alfaro’s steady leg added to the effort with field goals of 19, 30, and 42 yards, keeping Prairie View ahead in a tense back-and-forth battle.
Jackson State (9–3) lost starting quarterback JaCobian Morgan late in the first half with a left foot injury moments after he scored on a 29-yard TD run in the second quarter that briefly tied the game at 7-all.
Jared Lockhart, the freshman backup, kept Jackson State in it by hitting Ja’Naylon Dupree for a 22-yard touchdown before SWAC leading rusher Ahmad Miller powered in from two yards out to cut the deficit to two late in the third quarter. But that was as close as the Tigers would get.
Jackson State, which was ranked second total offense and No. 1 in rushing, was held to 224 total yards and just 80 on the ground by a tough Prairie View defense.
When the final seconds ticked away, Panthers players sprinted onto the field, helmets flying, hugs all around. It had been sixteen long years since Prairie View last stood atop the SWAC. Jackson fell to his knees for moment to soak it all in before being handed the game ball.
Prairie View will now move on to play MEAC champion South Carolina State for the HBCU national championship in the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia on Dec. 13.
