Carolina Keeps Perfect Record Intact : Pro football: Panthers hold off Jaguars, 20-14, in first game for expansion teams. Collins completes five of nine.

Coach Dom Capers could think of no better way to finish off the first game in the Carolina Panthers’ history.

The Panthers stopped a last-gasp drive at their goal line and held off the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-14, Saturday in the annual Hall of Fame game, the debut for the NFL’s two newest franchises.

“When you have somebody inside your five-yard line and you keep them out, that builds character,” Capers said. “It all comes down to who makes the play. And we make the play at the end.”

First-round pick Kerry Collins of Penn State and veteran Jack Trudeau each directed Carolina to a field goal in the fourth quarter after Jacksonville had tied the score, 14-14, on James Stewart’s one-yard run late in the third.

With the clock winding down, backup quarterback Mark Brunell marched the Jaguars 63 yards in 14 plays but couldn’t punch it in on four tries from inside the Carolina five.

Brunell overthrew two passes, sandwiched around a two-yard run by Stewart, and then had his fourth-down pass to Mike Williams broken up by Steve Lofton at the goal line with 1:04 to play. The Panthers ran out the clock after that.

“This was no ordinary preseason game,” Brunell said. “It was so exciting for Carolina and us. It was very disappointing, because we could have won. We’re building chemistry. We have a lot of talent, and we can win games.”

The game was played before a record crowd of 24,625 at Fawcett Stadium after the annual induction ceremonies at the adjacent Pro Football Hall of Fame. More than 800 media credentials, about twice as many as usual, were issued.

“There was a big sense of the tradition and history, and of raising our flag with the other 28 teams,” Jacksonville Coach Tom Coughlin said. “That was a big feeling.”

Typically one of the sloppiest games of the preseason because it is played so soon after the opening of training camps, this year’s version nonetheless provided plenty of thrills:

--Jacksonville’s Desmond Howard returned a punt 66 yards in the first quarter for the Jaguars’ first score.

--Bob Christian stretched the ball over the goal line to complete a 16-yard touchdown reception from Frank Reich for Carolina’s first touchdown in the second quarter.

--Rookie Tyrone Poole stepped in front of Brunell’s pass and returned the interception 85 yards to put the Panthers ahead, 14-7, late in the first half. It was the third-longest interception return in the history of the Hall of Fame game.

--Stewart’s tying touchdown in the third quarter came one play after the Jaguars avenged Poole’s interception by beating him for a 48-yard completion from Steve Beuerlein to Jimmy Smith.

The Jaguars committed four turnovers, two on fumbles and two on interceptions. The Panthers committed none, recovering their own two fumbles.

Collins, the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft, played the third quarter and completed five of nine passes for 53 yards, including third-down passes of 21 yards to Greg Clifton and 19 yards to Vince Marrow. He guided the drive to John Kasay’s go-ahead field goal in spite of fumbling when he was blindsided by Jason Simmons on the previous series.