Fort Valley State University

Fort Valley State (1-1, 1-0) to face Morehouse College (0-1, 0-1) in home debut; game to televised live on ESPNU

Wildcat Stadium (7,500; natural grass) will finally host its first college football game of the season this coming Sunday (Sept. 7) when the Fort Valley State University Wildcats host the Maroon Tigers of Morehouse College. Kickoff time for the game, which will be broadcast live to a national television audience on ESPNU, is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Richard Freeman (Tennessee State, ’97) is in his second season coaching the Maroon Tigers. His record is 7-4 (.636) all at Morehouse.

THE SERIES:
Fort Valley State and Morehouse have both have long standing relationships with the conference. Morehouse is an original member of the SIAC and Fort Valley State joined the conference in 1941, but the two schools did not face each other on the gridiron until 1974. Fort Valley won that first game 41-25 and Morehouse’s first victory over the Wildcats came in 1979 (14-3). The two teams made history in 1994 when they played the first regular season overtime game in the SIAC at Ypsilanti, Mich. (won by the Wildcats 28-21). The Maroon Tigers’ last win over the Wildcats occurred in 1997 (27-16). Presently, the count stands at 29-5-0 in favor of the Wildcats which includes last season’s 16-15 win in Atlanta.

THE TEAMS:
Fort Valley quickly rebounded from last week’s tussle against the Defending Division II Champions (Valdosta State) with a hard-fought 24-19 win over the Panthers of Clark Atlanta University. Ricardo Lockette provided most of the spark for the Wildcats in the early going. The receiver caught a four-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrett Williams, then broke loose for a 78-yard kickoff return for a score to start the third quarter. Lockette finished the day with 191 all-purpose yards. For the second straight week, Skyler Thornton led the Wildcats in rushing (60 yards) and averaged 4.0 yards per carry. Denzel Wesley, a freshman from nearby Macon, carried the ball only four times, but averaged 11 yards per attempt. Quarterback Garrett Williams had a very efficient evening behind the center, completing 12 of 21 passes for 200 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Defensively, linebacker Trenton Newton had a great outing, notching up 13 tackles.

Morehouse was upended in their season opener by the Tigers of Benedict College 7-3. The going was tough all day for the Maroon Tigers as they could muster only 157 yards of total offense, three of it on the ground. Quarterback Jerald Cook provided most of the offensive spark for Morehouse by throwing for 144 yards. On defense, the Maroon Tigers gave up only 7 points and 285 yards. Leading the way defensively for Morehouse were Troy Shine (DB) and Derrin Nettles (DL) who both had 10 tackles.

RADIO BROADCAST:
WFVS-LP (104.3 FM) will broadcast the game live from Wildcat Stadium. The game can also be heard via the internet on the Fort Valley State University Web site at www.fvsu.edu.

MORE ABOUT TELEVISION:
Fort Valley State will host Morehouse College in Wildcat Stadium on Sunday in a game that will be nationally televised on ESPNU. The last time a game was broadcast out of Wildcat Stadium; Fort Valley State defeated Fisk University 13-7 on ABC. To get ESPNU, call your cable or satellite provider for availability.

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE:
Tickets are still available for the game. Call the Fort Valley State ticket office at (478) 825-6532.

NEXT WEEK:
Fort Valley State will host Virginia Union in a key game matching up conference front runners from the SIAC and the CIAA. Kickoff time is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Wildcat Stadium.

Morehouse will host Lane College at B.T. Harvey Stadium. Kickoff time is 7 p.m.

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For More Information Contact: Russell Boone, Jr.-SID, (478) 825-6437