ATLANTA – South Carolina State spent an entire year living with the sting of losing the 2024 Celebration Bowl.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs finally got a taste of redemption, defeating Prairie View A&M 40-38 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the program’s second Celebration Bowl championship.

After being shut out in the first half and staring at a 21-point deficit, South Carolina State stormed back to erase last year’s heartbreak and win its first Black college football national championship under head coach Chennis Berry. 

“[Last year] I stood right by our locker room outside, still in the stadium, and I watched confetti drop on another team, and that fueled me,” Berry said. “And I said, ‘If the good Lord gives me another opportunity, that confetti will not drop on another team – that confetti is going to drop on us.’ … We knew we would be here, but we wanted to walk away this time with a trophy in hand. As I stand here today, we did just that.”

Going into the second half with just 80 total yards compared with Prairie View A&M’s 319, momentum shifted immediately after the break. South Carolina State capitalized on a Prairie View fumble, turning it into the Bulldogs’ first touchdown of the game. They followed with touchdowns on their next two possessions, tying the game late in the third quarter and flipping the energy of the stadium. A back-and-forth fourth quarter tested both teams and extended the game to a Celebration Bowl-record four overtimes.

South Carolina State starting quarterback William “Billy” Atkins IV was ruled out in the second quarter with a shoulder injury, forcing backup Ryan Stubblefield into action. Stubblefield steadied the offense, throwing for 234 yards and two touchdowns and earning Offensive MVP honors.

Wide receiver Jordan Smith helped drive the Bulldogs’ second-half surge. Smith, who has been a part of all three Celebration Bowl appearances in South Carolina State’s history, scored three total touchdowns and tallied 152 receiving yards.

“Just like anybody on our offense, when the ball comes to you, we make a play, and so [Smith] has always been a playmaker,” Stubblefield said. “He’s always been ‘him’ since high school. Since I met him last year, we’ve connected. … We were activated today. He won on his routes, and I put the ball where he [could] make a play.”

Defensively, South Carolina State clamped down after halftime, holding Prairie View to just 14 points in the second half and three points in overtime. South Carolina State defensive back Brenyen Scott tallied nine tackles and one tackle for loss, efforts that earned him Defensive MVP honors.

South Carolina State never held the lead during regulation, but during the fourth overtime, the Bulldogs delivered the defining moment of the night. On the decisive play, running back Tyler Smith stretched across the goal line, securing the touchdown that sealed the victory. 

Prairie View had chances to end the game earlier, most notably in the second overtime when the Panthers missed a potential game-winning 31-yard field goal. Their title hopes ended on the final snap when the Panthers’ last offensive play came up just short.

The win gave South Carolina State the most Celebration Bowl titles (two) among active programs in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Their first championship came under longtime head coach Buddy Pough in 2021. Berry now becomes just the second coach of a currently active MEAC program to win the game, joining North Carolina Central’s Trei Oliver.

South Carolina State’s press box bears the names of MEAC championship coaches on one side and Black college football national championship coaches on the other. Berry, who has won two conference titles, now gets to add his name to the latter side.

“It’s a great point that we can always make, that we’ve had some success, and what makes it really special is that we’ve got a number of coaches involved with national championships,” said Pough, who is now South Carolina State’s interim director of athletics. “Coach Berry joined that club here.”

The Bulldogs’ victory snapped a two-game winning streak by the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl and extended the MEAC’s lead in the series to 7-3.

Post-game quotes from the coaches 

Berry: “To God, be the glory, man. I got to give him all the glory, honor and the praise, because for what this team went through, we showed true testament to who we really are. To see it through adversary strikes [is] kind of the theme of our whole entire season. … They never wavered, even when we went down 21 nothing. This is what this football team is. … We start hashtagging ‘WWW’ – ‘We will win.’”

Prairie View’s Tremaine Jackson: “Really proud of these guys for the season that we’ve had. We started this thing back in July, and I think we were the only ones in our building that thought we could be here. So to be here was a good deal, and we had our chances to win. We didn’t capitalize on those. I told the young guys in the locker room, ‘[If you’ve] got a chance to take control of your own destiny, gotta take control of it.’ And so the ball didn’t bounce our way for whatever reason. … We look forward to getting ready to make another run with this thing.”

Attendance

The official attendance for the game was 26,703, more than 10,000 fewer fans than the 2024 Celebration Bowl, which drew 36,823. It is the second-lowest attendance in Celebration Bowl history.

Celebration Bowl records broken

– Prairie View quarterback Cameron Peters threw for 412 yards, breaking the record for the most passing yards in Celebration Bowl history. The previous record, 364 yards, was set by North Carolina A&T quarterback Kylil Carter in 2019. As a team, Prairie View set the record for most passing yards in a Celebration Bowl (436), surpassing the Aggies’ record of 364, set in 2019.

– Prairie View linebacker Sterling Roberts’ 2.5 sacks broke the record of 2.0 sacks set by Jackson State’s James Houston in 2021. 

– Prairie View’s defense broke the record for most sacks in a Celebration Bowl with 4.0, surpassing the previous record of 3.0 set by Jackson State (2024), South Carolina State (2021) and North Carolina A&T (2016, 2017, 2019).

– Smith’s 152 receiving yards surpassed the 2022 record set by Jackson State’s Kevin Coleman Jr., who finished the game with 137 receiving yards.

– South Carolina State kicker Nico Cavanillas Alti’s 48-yard field goal to tie the game at 38-38 in overtime breaks the record for the game’s longest field goal, surpassing North Carolina A&T kicker Cody Jones’ 45-yard field goal in 2015.

Memorable moments

– Prairie View quarterback Cameron Peters found tight end Ethan John for a 16-yard strike for the first touchdown of the game. In the second quarter, the Panthers scored 14 unanswered points: Peters ran for a 27-yard touchdown, and receiver Jyzaiah Rockwell caught a 14-yard pass to extend the Panthers’ lead to 21-0 in the first half.

– In the third quarter, South Carolina State forced a Prairie View fumble. The Bulldogs later cashed in on the turnover, with running back Tyler Smith rushing five yards for their first touchdown of the game.

– South Carolina State completed a 21-point comeback in the third quarter with two touchdowns from Jordan Smith to tie the game at 21-21. The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on three of their four possessions in the quarter. 

– Prairie View receiver Andre Dennis scored a 13-yard touchdown to help the Panthers regain the lead 28-21 with 2:27 remaining in the third quarter. Dennis finished the game with seven catches and 131 receiving yards. 

– With a 28-28 tie in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Cameron Bonner broke free for a 78-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up 35-28. His reception was the longest play from scrimmage in the game, and he finished the day with two catches for 91 yards. 

– In the fourth quarter, Stubblefield converted a fourth-and-16 pass to Jordan Smith. Three plays later, Smith scored a 10-yard touchdown to tie the game 35-35 all with 1:54 remaining.

– Prairie View linebacker Sterling Roberts sacked Stubblefield with 14 seconds left in the game to send it to overtime for the second time in Celebration Bowl history. The first occurred in 2022 between Jackson State and North Carolina Central. 

– Prairie View safety Cornelius Davis intercepted South Carolina State during the second overtime period, but kicker Diego Alfaro missed a field goal wide right to extend the game to the first three-overtime game in Celebration Bowl history. 

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