South Carolina State wins Celebration Bowl in fourth OT, defeating Prairie View 40-38

ATLANTA (AP) — Ryan Stubblefield found Jordan Smith on a two-point pass in the fourth overtime and South Carolina State defeated Prairie View A&M 40-38 on Saturday in the 10th Celebration Bowl, the matchup between the champions of the MEAC and SWAC.

After both teams kicked field goals in the first overtime, Cornelius Davis intercepted a Stubblefield pass on the first possession of the second overtime. Prairie View, needing any score to win, set up Diego Alfaro for a 31-yard field goal but he missed.

Both teams failed to score when the game went to two-point tries in the third overtime,

In the fourth OT, Stubblefield connected with Smith to give the Bulldogs the lead, then Prairie View’s Cameron Peters threw incomplete on the Panthers’ try.

South Carolina State trailed by 21 points at halftime but tied it in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns, all on drives of less than 50 yards.

Stubblefield entered the game late in the second quarter for starter William Atkins IV and threw for 234 yards. His two touchdown passes went to Smith, who also had a rushing touchdown and the winning two-point play. He caught nine passes for 152 yards.

Peters threw for 412 yards with four touchdowns and Andre Dennis had 131 receiving yards with one touchdown.

South Carolina State (10-3), making its third appearance in the Celebration Bowl in the past five years, won for the second time.

The MEAC now leads the series 7-3.

Prairie View (10-4) won 10 games for the first time since 1963.

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