By: FVSU Office of Sports Information
                                (Horace Holloman III, Contributor)
 
 
The Wildcats of Fort Valley State University (FVSU) salivated on the bitter sweet taste of victory Saturday (Oct. 13^th) after they defeated the Hornets of Concordia College Selma (CCS) 38-12 in Wildcat Stadium on Homecoming/Senior Day.
 
The sweet taste gave the Wildcats their fifth win of the 2012 campaign; however the FVSU seniors tasted the bitter as they played their final home game of the season. 
 
“The seniors that I have are all good people and they are good team [players],” said fourth-year Head Coach Donald Pittman.  “We're trying to redeem our season from last year and take it one game at a time. That is our goal.”
 
The ball seemed to bounce the senior's way all game long. On FVSU's first possession quarterback Antonio Henton launched a pass that was tipped between two Hornet defenders and finally caught by wide receiver Chris Slaughter on the Hornets one-yard line. Henton capped the five-play, 61-yard drive with a run up the middle to give the Wildcats the lead 7-0. The Hornets later answered with a seven-play, 72-yard drive with 6:14 left in the first quarter. While the Wildcats converted their extra point attempt, the Hornets missed theirs as FVSU maintained a 7-6 advantage.
 
Senior place kicker and punter Justin Rosenbaum continued his stellar play after a booming punt pinned the Hornets at their own one yard line. The defense came with pressure up the middle and Wildcat Van Shackleford forced a safety.
 
Déjà vu ensued on the Wildcats next possession as Rosenbaum launched another punt which landed at the Hornets three yard line. The defense capitalized once again and sacked the quarterback for another safety giving the Wildcats an 11-6 lead.
 
The offense started to pick up momentum late in the second quarter as Henton connected with wide receiver Eric McCree for a 10-yard touchdown pass to push the lead 18-6. Wide receiver Chris Slaughter caught his first touchdown of the day on a 62-yard pass from Henton with only 48 seconds left to play before halftime.
 
“We always have an advantage when we have a guy like Chris Slaughter, we feel like if we can just throw the ball to him he can make plays,” said Pittman.
 
After halftime the Hornets stung the Wildcats on a 42-yard pass to cut the deficit to 25-12 after a failed two-point conversion. The Wildcats clawed back down the field and Henton connected with Slaughter for another touchdown strike putting FVSU up 32-12.  Running back Jonquez Sanders would put the game out of reach for CCS on a two-yard run which capped a seven-play, 63-yard drive for a final score of 38-12.
 
 
Seniors Henton and Slaughter had big games for the Wildcats. Henton had 301-yards passing on 20 completions and Slaughter had 207 yards receiving with two touchdowns.  Running back Travis Richmond broke out of a slump and logged 81 yards on eight carries.
 
Defensively, Leron Furr lead the team in tackles with 13, which puts him second overall in tackles in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). Leon's brother Deron Furr finished the day with 1.5 sacks and Thomas Wolfe added an interception.
 
Up next on the Wildcat schedule is a trip to Tuscaloosa to tangle with conference foe, the Tigers of Stillman College.  Now 3-1 in conference play, FVSU will meet the Tigers on Saturday (Oct. 20^th) at 5 p.m. (CST) on the Stillman College campus.
 
 
 
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