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Wildcats Ready for Rival Battle with Golden Rams in 32nd Annual Fountain City Classic

11/3/2022 3:46:00 PM

By: Chris Myers
FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The Wildcats' 2022 season comes down to this Saturday. Fort Valley State is ready for its most heated rival Albany State at the biggest individual event of the 32nd annual Fountain City Classic.
 
In arguably the biggest drawing NCAA Division II Classic, the Wildcats and Golden Rams are set for their 78th meeting on the A.J. McClung Stadium grass this Saturday afternoon seen on ESPN+.
 
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FVSU vs. Albany State
Sat., Nov. 5, 2 p.m.
A.J. McClung Stadium, Columbus, Ga.
Tickets
Live Video
Live Stats
FVSU Season Stats
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SIAC East Rivalry Head into Weekend off Opposite Results

     The two rivals go into the final weekend of the regular season off two opposite results.

      FVSU comes off a tough night where it saw a truly tough ending of an intense battle. Trailing 28-24 with under a minute left, the Wildcats quarterback Kelvin Durham found Fralon Warren in the endzone from 32 yards only to have it waived off moments after the celebration started before the game ended by the same score. Albany State claimed its Homecoming contest in a 31-7 winning variety over Morehouse College.
 
FVSU vs. Albany State – 78th Meeting

     For the 78th time, FVSU and Albany State meet on the gridiron. After the Wildcats led the series, the Golden Rams have taken the series lead, 38-36-3, by a two-game advantage compliments of their four-straight and seven of eight victories.     
     Last 11 Scores:
      2021 – ASU 57, FVSU 0
      2019 – ASU 42, FVSU 6
      2018 – ASU 40, FVSU 6
      2017 – ASU 34, FVSU 9
      2016 – FVSU 21, ASU 17
      2015 – ASU 21, FVSU 17
      2014 – ASU 32, FVSU 21
      2013 – ASU 19, FVSU 10
      2012 – FVSU 38, ASU 20
      2011 – ASU 38, FVSU 29
      2010 – ASU 12, FVSU 7

12th-ranked Golden Rams Prevail over Wildcats in 2021 Meeting

     The Wildcats never were able to get their game on track. No. 22 Albany State scored after an opening drive blocked punt and posted points on the scoreboard in each of its next three drives on the way over Fort Valley State, 57-0, in the 31st Annual Fountain City Classic.

     The Wildcats felt the rush of the nationally-ranked Golden Rams. FVSU fell behind 24-0 after the first quarter and its offense was only able to make it into its opponents' territory two times, once in the second and the other in the fourth.

     Leading the effort for the Wildcats, running back Emanuel Wilson, the team's FCC MVP, ran a hard 108 yards on 26 carries for a 4.2-yard average. He also pulled in three passes for another 20 yards.

     Defensively, Zach Anderson recorded seven tackles and one for a loss. Mike Hicks, Jr. added six tackles. Antonio Golden chipped in five stops and a pair of tackles for loss.

     Albany State outgained FVSU, 361-148, on the day. The Golden Rams also blocked a pair of punts, including returning the second one 26 yards for a touchdown.
 
Gibbs & His Wildcats Look for 1st 8-Win Season in Decade

     In his inaugural season as a head coach, Shawn Gibbs' Wildcats has not only secured his first winning campaign as a college head coach, but also now has an opportunity for the program's first eight-win season in a decade.

     With seven wins in the first nine contests, FVSU is a win away from equaling the 2012 total where the program finished 8-3.

      The seven Wildcat victories is also the last time reaching the win amount since a 7-4 finish in 2009.

     FVSU has now recorded its fourth non-losing season in a row and third winning year in four years. It is the first time of four non-losing years since 2007-10 with records of 8-3, 6-5, 7-4 and 8-3.
 

Wildcats Slip to No. 7 in HBCU DII Coaches Poll

     HBCU D2 Coaches Poll: Benedict is new No. 1 and it's unanimous

boxtorow.com

For the first time Benedict is No. 1 in The HBCU Division II Coaches Poll powered by BOXTOROW. The Tigers defeated Clark Atlanta on Saturday and remain the only unbeaten team. BC received all of the first-place votes.

Virginia Union fell to Chowan and is now in a tie for second place with Albany State. No. 4 Fayetteville State wrapped up the CIAA Southern Division with its win on Saturday, while No. 5 Tuskegee wrapped up the SIAC Western Division with its win.

Key matchups will decide the CIAA Northern Division as No. 6 Chowan hosts Elizabeth City State and No. 2 Virginia Union plays at No. 8 Virginia State.
The HBCU Division II Coaches Poll powered by BOXTOROW is administered by FROM THE PRESS BOX TO PRESS ROW and is voted on by the HBCU NCAA Division II coaches.

2022 HBCU Division II Coaches Poll powered by BOXTOROW
Week 9
(Records through October 29, 2022)
No. Team W-L Pts Last Week
1 Benedict (24) 9-0 240 2
T-2 Virginia Union 8-1 193 1
T-2 Albany State 7-2 193 4
4 Fayetteville State 7-2 156 5
5 Tuskegee 7-2 144 6
6 Chowan 6-3 124 7
7 Fort Valley State 7-2 106 3
8 Virginia State 6-3 78 8
9 Bowie State 5-4 46 10
10 Lane 5-4 22 BR
Others receiving votes: West Virginia State (5-4) 16, Savannah State (4-5) 2, Winston-Salem State (3-5) 2, Kentucky State (4-5) 1.
(1st place votes in parentheses)

Wilson Surpasses Personal Best Mark, Lone SIAC 1,000-Yd Back

     Needing only 10 yards heading into last weekend, running back Emanuel Wilson surpassed his collegiate personal best mark. The redshirt junior rumbled for 119 yards on 25 carries and two scores. For the year, Wilson stands at 1,150 yards rushing on 181 carries, which bested his 2019 freshman year at Johnson C. Smith of 1,040 yards on 159 attempts.

     Currently, Wilson leads the SIAC in seven offensive categories including rushing yards, rushing yards per game (127.8) and rushing touchdowns (14). He also rates in the NCAA Division II top 10 in five categories including sixth in rush yards, seventh in total touchdowns, ninth in both rush touchdowns and rush yards per game and 10th in scoring (10.7 ppg).

     The Wildcat RB is the first 1,000-yard season rusher since Derrick Wimbush's school record 1,840 yards in 2004.
 
Durham Tries for First 2,000-yard Passing Season

     In his first season as starting quarterback, FVSU's Kelvin Durham will try to surpass the 2,000-yard passing mark this Saturday. The redshirt freshman sits at 1,796 yards on 130 of 218 attempts with 15 touchdowns with both his passing yards and touchdowns leading the Conference.

     Durham needs 204 yards passing, which he has surpassed in five of the nine games this year, to reach 2,000 yards for the season. If he hits the mark, it will be the first FVSU passer to do so since Slade Jarman threw for 2,099 yards during the 2019 season.

Wildcats Game-Winning Drive Score Taken Away, Allows Tigers Escape for the Win

     In one of the toughest endings in recent seasons, the Wildcats celebrated and moments later had it taken away. With 18 seconds left in the game from the Savannah State 32-yard line, Fort Valley State quarterback Kelvin Durham connected with Fralon Warren in the back right of the end zone and moments later had the play overturned. Following a defensive pass interference in the end zone on the next play, FVSU had one last pass attempt fall short and allowed Savannah State to escape with the 28-24 football win in the Central City HBCU Classic Saturday night.

After the Tigers (4-5/3-3 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference East) defense raced a fumble 34 yards to rush into the lead, 21-17, with 10:09, the Wildcats (7-2/4-2 SIAC East) answered right back. FVSU drove 66 yards on 10 plays with Emanuel Wilson taking care of the final 35 yards on four-straight carries, including the final 10 yards for a 24-21 advantage with 5:22 remaining.

Savannah State, though, had its own response. On the 10th-play of the drive, Jadon Adams leaned forward enough to break the plain of the goal line on 3rd-and-goal with 1:03 left for a 28-24 advantage.

Taking over on their own 35-yardline, Durham hit Hakeem Ellington over the middle and targeting flags flew from the Tigers secondary. After a lone conference, the targeting was taken away, as well as, the catch. Durham, though, hit Wilson and Warren on back-to-back passes totaling 43 yards to the SSU 27-yard with 34 seconds still left. Following a offensive line false start and a short incompletion, the Durham to Warren reversed continued the final trio of tough plays to end the FVSU night.

After only having only two yards rushing in the first half, the SIAC's leading back, Wilson ran for 117 yards in the final 30 minutes to finish with 119 on 25 carries and scoring runs of 20 and 10 yards. He also pulled in four passes for 52 yards.

Durham completed 12 of 25 pass attempts for 146 yards and an 11-yard scoring strike to Warren in the second frame and rushed for 54 yards on six carries. Warren finished with two catches for 35 yards, while Corintheus Edmonds totaled 34 yards on three passes and Shaw Robinson added 25 yards on two receptions.

Kentrell Lawson paced the FVSU defense with 13 tackles and Adeon Farmer had eight stops with both having 1.5 tackles for loss. Deon Andrew and Tyler Moore chipped in seven and six tackles. Amaury Hutchinson and Lataj Wright picked off Tiger passes in the first half.

Savannah State outgained FVSU by a 372-330 margin. Quarterback Adams ran 109 yards on 11 carries with the majority coming from the game's first score coming on 60 yards. Shamarcus Poole finished with 81 yards on 20 carries with a two-yard score.

FVSU did have its first-half chances to get points and establish control in the first half. Following a SSU punt on the game's opening drive, Durham raced 43 yards down the right sideline on the second FVSU offensive play to the 11-yardline. Wilson carried the ball to the Tiger two-yardline on the next three plays, but the back was stopped on 4th-and-two for no gain.

The Wildcat defense saw Hutchinson pick off a pass batted at the line of scrimmage on the visiting five-yard line with 5:00 left in the first period. Wright made it two FVSU interceptions on the first play of the second quarter. The Wildcats were forced to punt after both interceptions and kept the Tigers close and in the game.

Tied at 7-7 at intermission, FVSU went ahead for the first time right away on only four plays having the ball first in the third quarter. Wilson ran for the first 20 yards on the opening two carries and rumbled in from 20 yards to finish the 55-yard drive and first lead of the night, 14-7, only 1:39 into the half. Five minutes later, Rodney Williams connected on a 29-yard field goal for the largest lead of the night for either team, 17-7.

Golden Rams Defeat Maroon Tigers on Senior Day

     A year The Golden Rams defeated the Maroon Tigers (31-7) on Senior Day at the ASU Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.  With the win, the Golden Rams improved to (7-2) overall and (5-1) in the SIAC while the Maroon Tigers fell to (0-9) overall and (0-6) in the conference.
 
With 2:24 remaining in the 1st quarter, JaQuez Williams scored on a 6 yard run to give the Golden Rams a (7-0) lead.
 
The Golden Rams increased their lead to (10-0) when Eli Mashburn connected on 36 yard field goal.
 
With 4:18 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Jhaydon Sullivan connected with Jamill Williams for a 29 yard touchdown pass to extend the Golden Rams lead to (17-0).
 
After a scoreless 3rd quarter, the Golden Rams offense would come to life.  With 14:53 remaining in the 4th quarter, Jhaydon Sullivan connected with Ralph Lovett for a 38 yard touchdown pass to put the Golden Rams up (24-0).
 
The Maroon Tigers scored when Jaylon West ran in from the 10 yard line to cut the lead down to (24-7).
 
The Golden Rams responded when Jhaydon Sullivan connected with Ralph Lovett again on a 7 yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to (31-7).
 
The Golden Rams finished with over 400 yards of total offense.  JaQuez Williams had 23 carries for 244 yards for the Golden Rams.  Jhaydon Sullivan finished 6/17 for 162 yards and 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Ralph Lovett III caught 3 passes for 52 yards and 2 touchdowns.   Tyree Taylor led the Golden Rams with 71 receiving yards.
 
The "Dirty Blue" defense held the Maroon Tigers to 245 yards of total offense.  The defense intercepted 2 passes and recorded 2 sacks in the game.  Stephan Pierre and Antonio both finished with 7 total tackles for the Golden Rams.  Stephan Pierre and Tray Bishop recorded a sack for the "Dirty Blue" defense.  Antonio Leroy and Josh Grey had interceptions for the Golden Rams.    

Wildcats vs. Golden Rams – SIAC Ranks
     FVSU                                 Category                                ASU
       3rd (29.9 ppg)                  Scoring Offense                     2nd (30.6 ppg)
       9th (22.9 ppg)                  Scoring Defense                     4th (13.1 ppg)

       1st (391.6 yds/gm)          Total Offense                          3rd (376.0 yds/gm)
       3rd (186.4 yds/gm)          Rush Offense                         2nd (190.3 yds/gm)
       4th (205.1 yds/gm)           Pass Offense                          7th (185.7 yds/gm)

       5th (330.4 yds/gm)          Total Defense                         2nd (284.1 yds/gm)
       1st (118.8 yds/gm)          Rush Defense                         2nd (119.4 yds/gm)
       10th (211.7 yds/gm)         Pass Defense                         3rd (164.7 yds/gm)


       3rd (+6)                            Turnover Margin                     1st (+12)



 
 
 
 
-Wildcats-
 
 
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