Tigers Edge Fort Valley State, 34-33, In Overtime

FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The 19th-ranked Benedict College Tigers scored on a 25-yard pass on the first play of their overtime period to defeat Fort Valley State 34-33 after a wild and confusing fourth quarter.

Christopher Johnson scored on a 25-yard run with 7:45 remaining in regulation to give the Tigers a 27-15 lead, after the Logan Karwacki extra point. But the in-stadium scoreboard did not add that extra point, and showed a 26-15 score.

The Wildcats scored on the ensuing drive to make the score 27-21 with 4:53 remaining in regulation, although the stadium scoreboard, as well as the score on the live stream, showed the score as 26-21.

The Tigers ended up punting the ball back to the Wildcats with 31 seconds left. Fort Valley needed only three plays and 22 seconds to travel 78 yards. After a quick 11-yard pass to the sideline, the Wildcats completed a 61-yard pass play to the 6-yard line. The next play was a six-yard touchdown pass.

That officially made the score 27-27, although the fans in the stadium and watching the live stream, saw the score as 27-26 in favor of Fort Valley State. The Wildcats then fell on the ball on the extra point kick, thinking they had the lead. After a meeting by the officials and a clarification of the correct score, they gave the Wildcats another chance at the extra point. This extra point kick hit the upright and bounced back, leaving the game tied, and sending the contest to overtime.

“Ever since the beginning of the fourth quarter, I brought it to their attention,” head coach Ron Dickerson Jr. said. “Since the beginning of the fourth quarter, I kept telling them, ‘we’re missing a point, we’re missing a point.’ ”

The Wildcats had possession first in overtime, and used a 14-yard pass and an 11-yard run to score. The Wildcats then missed the extra point, making the score 33-27 in favor of the Wildcats.

Benedict then took possession from the 25-yard line. Jett Peddy lofted a pass to Reece Dobard in the back left corner of the end zone to tie the score. Karwacki came in and drilled the extra point for the game-winning point.

“We work on that every day of practice,” Dickerson said. “We knew that their corner had gone out earlier in the game, and they had a young one in there. We hadn’t really worked that side. And so we were like, hey, first down, let’s see if this young man was ready. And we picked on him. That was probably something we’ve thrown in the last two weeks a hundred times.”

Benedict improves to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the SIAC. Fort Valley State falls to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the SIAC.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers got on the board first with a 29-yard field goal by Karwacki.

Fort Valley State answered a short time later, scoring on a 70-yard run. The extra point was blocked, but the Wildcats caught the ball in the air and scored a two-point conversion for an 8-3 lead. A 12-yard run by Peddy gave the Tigers a 10-8 lead at the half.

Fort Valley regained the lead, 15-10, on a 1-yard run after intercepting a deflected Benedict pass. The Tigers got a 27-yard field goal by Karwacki, then later went on an 8-play, 77-yard drive, all on the ground, with A’chean Durant scoring on a 22-yard run. Karwacki’s extra point made it 20-15.

The Tigers finished with a season-high 296 yards rushing, with Durant and David Smith each finishing with 86 yards. Christopher Johnson had 75 yards and a touchdown. The Tigers also finished with a season-high 494 yards of total offense. David Makonzo had six tackles, two tackles for loss for -12 yards, and an interception to lead the Tiger defense.

“We played really, really bad defensively,” Dickerson said. “We missed a lot of tackles. We had a lot of turnovers on offense. But when we played together, offense, defense, and special teams, we were really good. But we’ve just got to overcome those mistakes.”

Benedict has a short turnaround, traveling to Tuskegee to face the Golden Tigers on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in a nationally-televised game on ESPN2.