FORT VALLEY -- The soap opera genre may be a dying breed on television, but not necessarily in football.
At Fort Valley State, “As The Quarterbacks Turn” is playing.
With Antonio Henton (knee) and W.J. McAllister (head) sidelined with injuries, head coach Donald Pittman had to go to a true freshman quarterback to start against perennial SIAC favorite Tuskegee.
And then he went down the depth chart further and tapped a player who had been moved to defensive back before the season because of the crowd at quarterback.
Tuskegee converted a interception and good field position into the winning score as the Golden Tigers stunned FVSU 18-15 on Saturday night for their first win of the season.
“It’s mostly quarterback issues,” Pittman said in a room adjacent to FVSU’s locker room, which was quiet except for the occasional slamming of a locker. “You’re missing your trigger.”
McAllister didn’t practice last week and was ruled out Thursday after making progress in the win over Benedict. FVSU fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the SIAC.
The Wildcats are on the road for two weeks, at Kentucky State and Bethune-Cookman, before entertaining West Division leader Stillman for homecoming Oct. 22.
Cameron Pearson, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Dallas, got the start, and Jahyrie Harris began working back at quarterback only a few weeks ago.
Pearson and the offense struggled in the first half, and Harris started the second half with FVSU trailing 10-6.
“Lot of pressure on a young man,” Pittman said. “We needed a spark.”
Harris led the Wildcats to a 47-yard field goal from Justin Rosenbaum three minutes into the fourth quarter, pulling FVSU to within a point.
Then he made sure the Wildcats finally took advantage of some good field position with a drive starting at his 49. He scrambled twice for 13 yards and found Chris Slaughter for 12 and Eric McCree for 15 along the way.
He threw to Demario Barber, who had dropped a sure touchdown pass in the first half, on a crossing route. Barber reached out for the pass, then got a block from McCree and finished off the 10-yard scoring play.
The conversion pass failed, but the Wildcats finally had regained the lead at 15-10 with 2:21 left in the third quarter.
The offenses returned to their sluggish pace. There were 19 punts in the game, and FVSU had 14 penalties.
Then came the break for Tuskegee.
Harris was picked off by Kenneth Baker at FVSU’s 42 with 8:52 left in the game, and former Baldwin standout Wayne Williams picked up 20 yards on a nice third-and-4 misdirection reverse.
Then he was dumped for a 10-yard loss on the same play two snaps later, putting the Golden Tigers into a third-and-26 at the Wildcats’ 32.
Quarterback Justin Nared, who also struggled all night, threw to 6-foot-1 Philander Browder, who had a few inches on FVSU corner Calvin Jackson. Browder went up and came down with the touchdown pass while Jackson looked for an offensive interference call that wasn’t coming.
Nared then ran in the conversion for an 18-15 lead with 6:22 left.
FVSU got to its 46 but then went backwards with two penalties and sack and punted. The Golden Tigers took over with 2:38 left and ran 2:19 off the clock.
Barber’s time-consuming 32-yard kickoff return was nullified by a holding penalty. Harris then completed a 58-yard pass to Chris Slaughter on the game’s final play.
It was no offensive masterpiece for either team.
FVSU ended up outgaining Tuskegee 338-227 on 12 fewer plays, a chunk coming on that final pass. But the Golden Tigers had a 35:49-24:11 advantage in time of possession.
Pearson was only 2-of-5 passing, and had scrambled around plenty of other times. Harris finished 9-of-15 for 149 yards with a touchdown and interception.
There was a bright spot.
“Travis Richmond,” Pittman said of the freshman tailback from Peach County who had 116 yards on 15 carries, including a 67-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. “He gets better every time he plays.”
