FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The Wildcats sent everyone home happy from Homecoming in The Valley Saturday afternoon. Fort Valley State used a full bag of tricks and rode five second-quarter touchdowns, before it fended off pesky Allen University, 49-40, in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football action.

Trailing 13-0 in the first 15:05, DeJuan Bell continued to shine and turned the game's momentum with a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown and the home team's first points. The Wildcats added a Jaylen Brown interception after the Bell return, a fumble recovery, a blocked punt and a Bell 29-yard punt return were all cashed in for ensuing touchdowns for a 35-13 turnaround in only 14:42.

Allen, though, did not go away in the second 30 minutes and outscored FVSU, 27-14. The Wildcats found the end zone in each of the final two quarters and sealed the close final with a final first down to run out the clock.

With the victory, FVSU continued its success in the series against Allen with a fourth-straight victory. The Wildcats are now 4-2 overall and 4-1 in the SIAC, while Allen is 1-5 and 0-5 in the SIAC.

The Yellow Jackets surprisingly outgained the Wildcats on the day, 449-285, and possessed the ball for almost an entire quarter more (36:17 to 23:43). FVSU did take advantage of two visitor turnovers and blocking the team's fourth opponents' punt of the year.

Brandon Marshall carried the ball 19 times for 82 yards with 3-yard scoring plunge and pulled in two passes for 44 yards. Kelvin Durham completed 13 of 19 passes for 182 yards and four scores of 25, 3, 44 and 7 yards, while he also ran in for a 9-yard option touchdown.

Gentry Sparks caught three passes for 51 yards with scoring grabs of 44 and seven yards. He also had two carries for four yards. JT Pendleton hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass and Diallo Adoulaye caught his first collegiate pass of a 3-yard touchdown variety. Triston Morgan blocked his third punt of the year and rushed one time for three yards.

Bell didn't quite equal his all-purpose yard total from last weekend, but the senior still totaled 212 yards. He returned three kick-offs for 144 yards with the 95-yard touchdown, one punt for 29 yards, a rush for six yards and two receptions for 33 yards. Jamie Hampton added two kick returns for 70 yards and three catches for 15 yards.

On the defense, Jaydn Walker paced the Wildcat tacklers with 10, one for a loss, and a pass breakup. Kentrell Lawson added eight stops, while Malik Harp had seven tackles to go with three for loss, two sacks and a quarterback hurry.

AJ Harris made his presence felt on the defensive line with five tackles, 2.5 for a loss, a sack and one hurry. Along with his key interception, Brown had four stops, one for a loss, and a hurry. Adeon Farmer accounted for the team's other sack and DeMarcus Harris the tackle for loss, while Amaury Hutchinson recovered the Allen fumble.

After Allen capped a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive with a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, Bell took the ensuing kick-off at his 5-yard line, ran to the middle and cut to the right sideline for another return for a touchdown of 95 yards for a 13-7 score.

Brown picked off the Yellow Jackets pass on their second play of the next possession and returned it 14 yards to the Allen 4-yard line. Marshall plunged in two plays later and Daniel Gibbs point after gave FVSU its first lead, 14-13, and one it would hold the final 33:45.

With the ball on the home 40-yard line, the Allen snap went over quarterback Jamir Dismuke head and resulted in a fumble recovered by Hutchinson. Five plays later, Durham lofted a 25-yard pass into the left corner of the end zone to JT Pendleton for the fourth home score in 3:30 of game time.

After three plays netting non yards on the next Allen plays, Morgan came from the right side and blocked the punt and recovered it at the visitors' 16-yard line. Durham capped the fourth score on a quarterback option he tucked and ran off the right tackle for the nine-yard touchdown.

The FVSU defense saw Farmer and AJ Harris sack the Allen signal caller for a 14-yard loss. Bell took the Allen punt and returned it 29 yards to set up the offense on the Yellow Jacket 36-yardline. With 50 seconds left in the opening half on the eighth play, Durham lofted the ball to the right flat to Adoulaye from three yards and completed the five-score quarter.

The two Durham to Sparks touchdown passes in the second half was enough to hold off along with a key 7-yard quarterback scramble for the final first down to end the day.

For Allen, Dismukes passes for 232 yards on 17 of 36 attempts for four scores. Running back Fabian Duncan became the first 100-yard rusher against the FVSU defense on the year with 135 yards on 25 carries.

FVSU travels next Saturday afternoon, Oct. 19, in a 2 p.m. game at South Carolina State.

-Wildcats-