Marauders unable to recover in 35-14 loss to Fort Valley State
FORT VALLEY, Georgia - The Central State Marauders gave up four first-half touchdowns to Fort Valley State and were unable to recover in an eventual 25-14 loss on Saturday.
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FVSU's Emmanuel Wilson rushed in for the opening score from nine yards out midway through the first quarter. FVSU upped its lead to 14-0 when quarterback Tyrell Jackson connected with Erron Price for 56 yards. Later in the half, Jackson and receiver Tajee Steele teammed up for a pair of scores with one pass for six and another for 65 yards to give the Wildcats a 28-0 lead at the break.
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Down by four scores, head coach Bobby Rome's team fought back to cut the margin in half, 28-14, with two scores and the second coming with 5:28 left in the contest. CSU quarterback
Jacoby Smith, who relieved starter
Tyriq Henderson, came in to through touchdowns to
Dalane Brown II and
Said Sidibe on passes of 33 yards and 12 yards.
FVSU eventually sealed the victory by running off a 5:04 drive culminating in a four-yard Marlon Fleming in the late stages of the game.
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CSU, who was down multiple defensive starters for the fourth straight week, gave up 455 yards of total offense to FVSU with 277 through the air and 178 on the ground. With CSU's leading rusher
Demonte' Dunlap ruled out of Saturday's contest, FVSU held Central State to only seven net yards on 32 carries with 12 of the rushes resulting in tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
With combined efforts of Henderson and Smith, the Marauders managed to through for 354 yards. Brown II was the main target for CSU quarterbacks as the senior hauled in six receptions for 134 yards and a score. A shorthanded CSU defense was led by linebacker
Justice Thompson. In his first action of the season, the freshman from Louisville, Kentucky totalled 13 tackles, two tackles for a loss and a sack.
Falling to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in SIAC play, CSU will return home to host Tuskegee on Saturday at 1 pm.
