18-15 loss to Tuskegee could be a serious blow to Wildcat season
By: FVSU Office of Sports Information
After last week's critical win against Benedict College, the Wildcats of Fort Valley State University (FVSU) entered last night's game (Oct. 1st) against the Golden Tigers of Tuskegee University with the same sense of urgency. With a record of 1-3, the team was well aware that another conference loss could have disastrous implications on their season. In the match up against the winless Golden Tigers, the outcome now leaves many wondering just what the future holds for the Wildcats this season.
Despite the disappointing result, things started well for FVSU. After the teams traded punts for the first seven minutes of the game, the Wildcats scored first with 7:45 remaining in the quarter when freshmen running back Travis Richmond broke free on a 67-yard touchdown run. While the extra point attempt failed, the Wildcats took the early 6-0 lead.
That margin held until the 9:40 mark in the second quarter. After a 15-play, 81 yard drive by Tuskegee stalled at the FVSU 14 yard line, the Golden Tigers converted on a 27-yard field goal by Eduardo Murillo. The Wildcat lead was cut to 6-3.
On the ensuing kick-off, a Wildcat fumble was recovered by Tuskegee at the FVSU 27 yard line. Five plays later, Golden Tiger Quarterback Justin Nared gave Tuskegee its first lead of the game with a two-yard touchdown run. With the converted extra point, Tuskegee led 10-6.
The Wildcats inched closer to Tuskegee in the third quarter when junior kicker Justin Rosenbaum converted a 47 yard field goal with 12:05 left. The kick narrowed the Golden Tiger lead to 10-9.
Later in the third, FVSU re-took the lead after freshmen quarterback Jahyrie Harris concluded a six-play, 51-yard drive with a 10 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeMario Barber. Again, while the Wildcat extra point attempt failed, the lead swung back to FVSU, 15-10.
The game was decided with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter when Tuskegee's Nared connected with wide receiver Philander Browder on a 32-yard touchdown pass to give the Golden Tigers a 16-15 lead. Instead of kicking the extra point, the Golden Tigers then converted on the two point conversion on a run by Nared. The 18-15 margin held for the remainder of the game as Tuskegee claimed its first win of the season (1-3) and the Wildcats fell to 1-4.
For the second consecutive week the Wildcat offense was sparked by the play of Richmond. He was the game's leading rusher with 116 yards on 15 carries. He averaged 7.7 yards per carry. Harris completed 9 of 15 passes for FVSU with a total of 149 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, Courtney Daniel led the Wildcats for the second straight weekend. Last week's SIAC Defensive Player of the Week finished with 13 tackles in last night's game. Bernard Goodrum and Ricky Johnson contributed 7.5 tackles each.
The Wildcats travel to Frankfort, Kentucky next Saturday, October 8th to meet the Thorobreds of Kentucky State University. Its' homecoming for the Thorobreds and kick-off for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) contest is at 1:30 p.m. Live broadcast coverage of the game can be heard on the Wildcats Sports Network (Radio: WFVS LP-104.3FM in Fort Valley, GA; Internet: www.fvsu.edu).
-Wildcats Athletics-
