FORT VALLEY, Ga. – After getting their first win last weekend, the Wildcats hit the road for the first time in the 2024 season. Fort Valley State takes on its toughest foe of the first three weeks Saturday night when it plays No. 24 Delta State University.

For the first time this season, the Wildcats go under the lights. FVSU heads to Cleveland, Miss., to face Delta State in a 6 p.m. CST/7 p.m. EST kick-off.

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FVSU (1-1) at Delta State (2-1)
Sat., Sept. 21, 6 p.m. CST/7 p.m. EST
Parker Field at McCool Stadium
Tickets
Flo Sports
FVSU Stats
Delta State Stats
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FVSU Aims to Even Series with Delta State

After almost a decade of not meeting, FVSU and Delta State renew their football series this Saturday.
The Statesmen hold a slim 3-2 lead in the first five matchups with the last coming back in September of the 2015 season.

The Wildcats are 2-1 in the contests held in Cleveland, Miss., including the first meeting in November of 1998 in the NCAA DII national playoffs.

11/21/1998 – FVSU 21, @DSU 14 – NCAA DII Playoffs
09/10/2011 – DSU 27, @FVSU 7
09/01/2012 – FVSU 31, @DSU 23
09/06/2014 - DSU 56, @FVSU 13
09/03/2015 - @DSU 48, FVSU 7

FVSU Game 3 Season Success

The third game of the season over the last decade has been very good for the Wildcats. FVSU has went 10-1 in its last 11 third games of the season going into the weekend.

Under Coach Gibbs, FVSU is 2-0 the last two years with wins over Edward Waters (34-31) in 2023 and Allen University (29-27) in 2022. The lone Wildcat loss came on Sept. 18 of 2021 against Lane College (27-24) in a game played at Peach County High School.

The last road game played on the third game came on Sept. 15 of 2018 with a 21-19 victory at Miles College. In fact, FVSU is 4-0 during the 11 contests which were played away from Fort Valley.

Gibbs Kept Rebound Victories Going

In the beginnings of his third year at the helm, FVSU head coach Shawn Gibbs kept his rebound victories after a loss going after the team's win over Kentucky State last weekend.
Over his first six Wildcat defeats, Gibbs' teams have won the following game and are now 6-0 in the next games.

Gibbs after a FVSU loss:

2022:
W, 32-17 vs. Central State
W, 31-21 vs. Albany State
2023:
W, 40-17 vs. Clark Atlanta
W, 31-3 vs. Morehouse
W, 23-10 vs. Johnson C. Smith
2024:
W, 42-0 vs. Kentucky State

FVSU Stays at No. 8 in HBCU D2 Coaches Poll

HBCU D2 Football Coaches Poll: Teams continue to climb poll

While Virginia Union remains No. 1 in the HBCU Division II Coaches Poll powered by BOXTOROW and continues to receive the majority of the first place votes, there are other teams which some may not label as traditional powers who continue to climb the poll.

For instance, No. 2 Johnson C. Smith is the only team that has won all of its games and has its highest ranking ever. No. 4 Clark Atlanta remains undefeated and also has its highest ranking ever.

Despite its loss to Catawba, Shaw has its highest ranking ever at No. 6. No. 7 Winston-Salem State rebounded from last week's overtime loss at North Carolina A&T with a win over Ohio Dominican and has its highest ranking ever. And No. 10 Elizabeth City State is 2-1 on the season and enters the poll for the first time ever at No. 10.

In its third year, the HBCU Division II Coaches Poll is administered by BOXTOROW, and is voted on by the HBCU NCAA Division II coaches.

2024 HBCU Division II Coaches Poll powered by BOXTOROW
Week 3
(Records through September 14, 2024)

No.	Team	W-L	Pts	Last Week
1	Virginia Union (13)	1-1	169	1
2	Johnson C. Smith(4)	3-0	144	T-3
3	Virginia State (1)	1-1	143	T-3
4	Clark Atlanta	2-0-1	119	5
5	Fayetteville State	1-1	93	2
6	Shaw	2-1	79	6
7	Winston-Salem State	2-1	60	9
8	Fort Valley State	1-1	57	8
9	Miles	0-2	37	7
10	Elizabeth City State	2-1	15	NR

Others receiving: Albany State (0-2) 14, Tuskegee (0-2) 13, Livingstone (2-1) 11, Lane (1-1) 8, Benedict (0-2) 1, West Virginia State (1-1) 5, Bowie State (0-2) 3, Central State (1-2) 3, Savannah State (0-2) 1, Edward Waters (1-2) 1, Bluefield State (1-2) 1.

(1st place votes in parentheses)

Durham Earns HBCU National Player of the Week & SIAC Offensive Player of the Week

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Wildcats offense ran well once it started up last Saturday. Off five-straight touchdown drives in a row, Fort Valley State quarterback Kelvin Durham guided the offense and earned the HBCU National Player of the Week and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Football Offensive Player of the Week honors.

After the FVSU special teams blocked a punt for a touchdown for the first points, Durham took the offense on five touchdowns in a row over the unit's second and third quarter possessions in the 42-0 shutout of Kentucky State.

In the game, Durham completed 17 of 20 passes for 283 yards with four touchdowns without an interception. The redshirt junior from Homestead, Fla., added five rushes for 19 yards and amassed 302 yards of total offense. The third-year starter hit identical 10-yard scoring strikes in the second frame before he added passing touchdowns of 41 and 74 yards in the third quarter.

Over the opening two Wildcat games, Durham has 493 yards passing on 36 of 52 attempts at a 69.2% completion percent with seven touchdowns to two interceptions. He averages 246.5 yards passing per contest and holds a 185.6 passing efficency rating. Durham has also rushed eight times for 26 yards for another score and sits at 519 yards of total offense.

Courtesy of BOXTOROW

Fuquay-Varina, NC - Fort Valley State quarterback Kelvin Durham has been named HBCU National Player of the Week by BOXTOROW. Durham, a redshirt-junior from Homestead, Fla., completed 17-of-20 passes (85 percent completion percentage) for 283 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions in helping lead the Wildcats to a 42-0 victory over Kentucky State. It was the first win of the season for the Wildcats. Two of Durham's touchdown passes were for 74 and 41 yards. 

Durham will be highlighted on the nationally syndicated sports talk show BOXTOROW with Donal Ware which airs on radio stations across the
country.

Wildcats Shut Out Thorobreds

The Wildcats were on the prowl early and controlled the day's action. Fort Valley State set the tone with a blocked punt on the first possession, scored touchdowns on five-straight drives and shut out Kentucky State, 42-0, for its first football victory of the season.

After the Thorobreds first three plays netted a loss of two yards, the Wildcats' Jaylen Brown flew in from the left side and blocked the visitors' punt before Amaury Hutchinson dove on it in the end zone for the touchdown. Offensively, FVSU put five more touchdowns on the scoreboard with scores on each second and third-quarter possession in the dominating afternoon.

With the victory, FVSU evens its season mark to 1-1 overall and in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. For the sixth time following a loss, head coach Shawn Gibbs improved to 6-0 after a Wildcat loss. Kentucky State fell to 0-3 and 0-1 in the SIAC.

Following a tough opening day performance, the BlueDeath defense showed it mettle. Most importantly, the defensive unit posted its first shutout since a 30-0 blanking of Tuskegee on Sept. 5 of 2021 opening that campaign and first one under Gibbs tutelage.

The FVSU defense held Kentucky State to -10 yards rushing on 21 attempts, 137 yards passing and a total of 127 yards on 47 offensive plays. The home defense also forced three turnovers with the blocked punt, forced a fumble and an interception, which was made in its end zone to end a Thorobred drive and keep them off the scoreboard, sacked the quarterback six times and had eight tackles for loss.

The FVSU defense had a balanced effort with freshman Tre'vyon Webb leading with six tackles and eight Wildcats had two or more stops. Malik Harp registered five tackles, while David Moncrief (with one for a loss, DeMarcus Harris and Kel Ikechukwu all had four.

Cedric Hillsman made the most of his three tackles with a strip sack for a forced fumble, which Jannoris Robertson recovered, who also had 1.5 sacks of his own. Darnell Stephens picked off the pass in the home endzone, while Terrance Irons, Marquis Hood, Lorenzo Harvey and Alphonzo Harris recorded a sack each.

The Wildcat offense did its part as well with 498 yards of total offense on 56 plays without a turnover. Quarterback Kelvin Durham registered 302 yards of total offense. The redshirt junior completed 17 of 20 passes for 283 yards and four touchdowns and ran five times for 19 yards.

Brandon Marshall rushed 12 times for 85 yards and pulled in five passes for 72 yards, including a 41-yard scoring strike. Jamal Sanders had a solid rushing day with 60 yards on six totes with his first collegiate touchdown covering 40 yards.

DeJuan Bell grabbed four passes for 126 yards with touchdowns of 10 and 74 yards. Jamie Hampton had three catches for 42 yards and Za'Tarious Anderson had a 10-yard touchdown.

With the blocked punt being the lone first-quarter score, FVSU's offense joined the defense in getting its output going in full force in the two middle quarters.

The Wildcat offensive unit was 5 for 5 in scoring touchdowns of its possessions over the middle 30 minutes of play. Durham completed 10-yard scoring passes to Anderson with 10:15 in the frame and then Bell on an inside slant with only 32 seconds before half to make it 21-0 at intermission.

Delta State Loses at Wingate

Delta State scored first last weekend, but it was unable to add to it. Wingate University scored once in each of the first, second and third quarters for the 21-7 homes win over Delta State.

The Statesmen amassed only 253 yards of total offense with 144 on the ground and 109 through the air, while the home team had 341 yards on 72 offensive plays.

Cole Kirk passed for 84 yards on 8 of 13 passing and raced 65 yards for the lone Delta State touchdown.

FVSU Has Equal Production in Each Quarter

Over the first two games of the year, FVSU has posted equal production in each of the four quarters. In eight quarters of action, the Wildcats have scored 84 points with 42 points in each contest.

FVSU has spread out its 84 points equally with 21 points in each of the four frames.

Wildcats vs. Statesmen

FVSU	Category	DSU
42.0 ppg	Scoring Offense	36.3 ppg
22.5 ppg	Scoring Defense	18.3 ppg
386.0 yds/gm	Total Offense	459.0 yds/gm
131.0 yds/gm	Rush Offense	207.7 yds/gm
255.0 yds/gm	Pass Offense	251.3 yds/gm
300.5 yds/gm	Total Defense	324.7 yds/gm
20.5 yds/gm	Rush Defense	149.0 yds/gm
280.0 yds/gm	Pass Defense	175.7 yds/gm

Wildcats vs. Tigers Renew Series in Savannah Next Saturday

The Wildcats return to SIAC action next weekend when they renew their series with the Tigers of Savannah State on Saturday, Sept. 28. Kick-off in Savannah is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+




 

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