Undefeated Dillard routs Ely for third consecutive victory in the ‘Soul Bowl’

For the third consecutive year, Dillard’s football team owned the “Soul Bowl.”

The visiting Panthers rolled past Blanche Ely 60-14 in the 50th annual game on Saturday and finished the regular season unblemished at 10-0.

Despite Dillard’s 17th consecutive regular season victory, the Tigers still lead the overall series 25-23-2. During the Panthers’ streak they have outscored their opponents 764-123.

Dillard also set a Soul Bowl record with 137 points in back-to-back victories.

Dillard senior quarterback Zamir Jones passed for 130 yards and three touchdowns and was named the MVP for the Panthers.

“We needed to stay focused and execute, and we did tonight,” Dillard coach Eddie Frasier said. “We stuck to the game plan on what we worked on the past two weeks preparing for Ely.”

Dillard never trailed and buried its rival with 28 second-half points.

Jones completed his third scoring pass, this time 15 yards to Raphael Williams, with 6:22 left in the third quarter.

A bad snap from Ely’s punt team quickly led to another touchdown when Kerry Desinord recovered the ball in the end zone for a 46-14 advantage.

Tyreque Daley added his second touchdown catch on a 5-yard pass from backup quarterback Navar Maine midway through the fourth quarter that promptly started a running clock with the Panthers leading by 35 points..

The final touchdown came from reserve running back Keyvon Walker on a 5-yard run up the middle with under two minutes to play.

Dillard’s 32-14 halftime lead was led by Jones with a pair scoring passes of 22 and 6 yards to Daley and Lamont Scott, respectively.

Dillard running back Patrick Bowne led all rushers with 97 yards on nine carries, including a 29-yard touchdown scamper with 6:23 left in the first half.

Overall, the Panthers’ rushing attack finished with 276 yards on 32 carries and three touchdowns.

Quarterback and defensive back Jevon Williams was named the MVP for the Tigers (7-3) after finishing with with 64 rushing yards and a pair of interceptions.