By: FVSU Office of Sports Information
 
In a game that was an absolute must win for the Wildcats, Fort Valley State University (FVSU) traveled to Tuscaloosa, AL on Saturday, October 20^th for a conference match up with the Tigers of Stillman College (SC).  While the teams play in different divisions of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), a win for the Wildcats would keep them out front in the East division of the conference with an overall 6-2 record.  A loss would mean a tie in the East with the Golden Rams of Albany State University who won an East Division game against Clark Atlanta University earlier in the day. 

While both teams struggled in the first half, only the Wildcats managed a score before halftime.  Freshman running back Germaine Tait capped an 11-play, 63 yard drive with a one yard run for the touchdown.  Justin Rosenbaum's point after gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead at the 10 minute mark in the first quarter. The score remained that way for the rest of the first half.

In the second half, the scoring picked up.  After a Tiger seven-play, 60 yard drive stalled early in the third quarter, Alejandro Huerta connected on a 37 yard field goal to give SC its first points of the game and the Wildcat lead was cut to 7-3. 

Later in the third, the Tigers claimed their first lead of the contest when they mounted an eight-play, 85 yard drive culminated by a one yard touchdown run by Dondre Purnell.  After Huerta's extra point, the Tigers took a 10-7 lead.

Before the third quarter ended, however, the Wildcats climbed back on top.  Junior defensive back Thomas Wolfe recovered a Tiger fumble and returned it 44 yards for the touchdown just seconds before the quarter expired.  The Wildcats reclaimed a 14-10 lead after the Rosenbaum extra point.

The Wildcats scored in first minute of the fourth quarter when senior defensive back Dajuan Williams added to his interception total with a 60 yard return for a touchdown. Williams ran his interception total to four for the season with two of those returned for touchdowns.

The Tigers responded with a 75-yard run from scrimmage by David Johnson and with Huerta's extra point conversion, the game drew closer as the Wildcats led 21-17.

That would be as close as the Tigers would get.  A one-yard touchdown run by FVSU Quarterback Antonio Henton followed by a 44-yard touchdown strike from Henton to wide receiver Christopher Slaughter sealed the win for the Wildcats, 35-17.

For the game, Henton completed 17 of 30 passes for 164 yards with the one touchdown toss to Slaughter.  Slaughter finished with five receptions for 98 yards and running back Travis Richmond ran for 99 yards on 14 carries.  Defensively, Deron Furr and Alex Cook led the Wildcats with seven tackles each.

Now 6-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play, the Wildcats will meet the Maroon Tigers of Morehouse College next Saturday (October 27^th) at 2 p.m. in B.T. Harvey Stadium on the Morehouse campus.  While its homecoming for Morehouse, the incentive for the Wildcats is that a win in Atlanta would ensure that they will be playing for the SIAC East Division Championship when they meet the Golden Rams of Albany State University the following week in the 23^rd Annual Fountain City Classic on Saturday, November 3^rd.