COLUMBIA, S.C. – For the second week in a row, the Benedict College football game came down to the final kick. But this time, it was the Fort Valley State Wildcats who got a 40-yard field goal by Juan Serna with two seconds left to take a 33-30 victory over the Tigers Saturday night in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
 
The field goal capped off a wild final three minutes of the game.
 
Benedict was trailing 30-24 when they took over the ball at their own 6-yard line with 3:44 left on the clock. After a one-yard loss and two incomplete passes, quarterback Cameron Stover connected with Jeremy Glinton for a 13-yard pickup on fourth-and-11. The Tigers moved the ball to midfield, but were facing another fourth-down. Stover threw a deep pass, but the ball was tipped by a Fort Valley State defender. Benedict's Okechi Ntiasagwe caught the deflected ball, briefly bobbled it, then held on and raced untouched into the end zone for a 51-yard scoring pass with 1:32 left to play.
 
A bad snap on the ensuing extra point proved costly, as the Tigers were not able to get the kick off, leaving the game tied at 30.
 
The Wildcats took over at their own 23-yard line after the ensuing kickoff and picked up an 18-yard gain by quarterback Otis Brown on first down. Facing a third-and-14 from the Benedict 48-yard line with 14 seconds left, Brown kept the ball again and ran for 25 yards before going out of bounds at the 23-yard line with 2 seconds left. That was enough for Serna's game-winning field goal.
 
"I'm proud of these guys. They fought their hearts out," Benedict coach James Woody said. "I thought offensively and defensively, we could have put our guys in better situations to make some plays early in the game and it shouldn't have come down to that last kick. We've got to look at ourselves. As the head football coach, I blew that game. I've got to find a way to correct these mistakes and get this team better and hopefully we can come out and be ready for Thursday."
 
Benedict, now 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the SIAC, opened the scoring on a 4-yard pass play from Stover to Kendariss Brown. Tory Mimbs added the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 6:13 left in the first quarter.
 
The Tigers got all the way down to the Fort Valley State 2-yard line on their next drive, but settled for a 19-yard field goal by Mimbs for a 10-0 lead.
 
A 55-yard run by Malcolm Eady put the Wildcats in scoring position on their next drive. Jalen White scored on a 1-yard run. The extra point missed, giving Benedict a 10-6 lead with 13:39 left in the second quarter.
 
The Wildcats, now 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the SIAC, had a nine-play, 73-yard drive on their next series to take the lead. Brown threw a 42-yard pass to Drelon Freeman, with Serna adding the extra point for a 13-10 lead with 8:08 left in the first half.
 
Fort Valley's lead was short lived, as Stover threw a 75-yard touchdown bomb to Jeremy Glinton on the second play from scrimmage to give the Tigers a 17-13 lead. Fort Valley State would get a 43-yard field goal by Serna with 1:30 left in the half to cut the lead to 17-16.
 
The Wildcats went back on top in the third after a 25-yard scoring pass from Eady to Freeman.
 
Benedict regained the lead after a seven-play, 66-yard drive. Stover scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, but the big play of the drive was a 39-yard pass from Stover to Dion Hamilton. The fourth quarter started with the Tigers leading 24-23.
 
Fort Valley took a 30-24 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 31-yard pass from Brown to Renard Williams, setting the stage for Benedict's big-play touchdown, but not getting the extra point kick, which would have put the Tigers up by a point.
 
"We get that last drive where we scored, and then we have a freshman snapper, a freshman holder, and a freshman kicker, and it showed," Woody said.
 
Fort Valley State finished with 227 yards rushing. White led the Wildcats with 87 yards on 13 carries.
 
Benedict's Stover completed 23-of-39 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for one touchdown and had one interception. Brown had five receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown. Glinton had three receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown.
 
 
The Tigers have a short week to prepare for Thursday night's nationally-televised contest at Miles. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network as the NCAA Division II Game of the Week.