ROME, Ga. – The Shorter Hawks came into Saturday's battle with Fort Valley State riding high after two-straight victories. The Hawks sought to add to that streak on Senior Day against the Wildcats, but the visitors had other plans. Shorter dropped their final game of the spring season 36-18 at Chris Hunter Stadium.
Some costly turnovers and just pure bad luck highlighted the afternoon for the Hawks. Shorter has had a different starting quarterback seriously injured in two of their previous three games of the season, and Saturday was no different.
Quarterback Brandon Dickerson, who played well in his time replacing the injured Harold Cook last week, was injured on the second drive of the third quarter, and that forced true freshman Tyler Henderson into action. Although Henderson played well at times, the injury to Dickerson definitely impacted the home side.
Arguably, the most impressive offensive performance on Saturday came from the opposite sideline, as FVSU wide receiver Shemar Bridges accounted for 158 yards receiving on seven catches and snagged a touchdown pass from teammate Tyrell Jackson early in the second quarter. Bridges made his presence felt in a big way on special teams minutes earlier, as he recovered a muffed punt in Shorter territory to set up a 41-yard field goal by FVSU's Andre Labat.
Fort Valley State came into the game as somewhat of a mystery, as this was their first game of the spring, but the visitors set the tone early, via a 1-yard touchdown run by Marlon Fleming to cap the game's opening drive. While Fleming was not very impressive from a yardage perspective, he rushed for two more touchdowns on the ground later in the game.
Dickerson played pretty well in his limited time on Saturday (15-of-22 passing for 149 yards, a touchdown and an interception), and his 28-yard touchdown throw to tight end John Dietl III was the highlight of his performance. Despite his success, the Hawks found themselves trailing until 4:36 left in the third quarter, as Trey Williams' 5-yard touchdown run put Shorter up 18-17. The rest of the game was all FVSU though, as the Wildcats (1-0) put up 19-unanswered points to end the competition at 36-18.
Despite the loss, the Hawks have a lot to be proud of and have a lot of positives they can take with them heading into a regular football season in the fall. One of those things is that they truly have a reliable weapon in the kicking game. Shorter kicker Nick Pope had another solid performance on Saturday, as he nailed his two field goal attempts from 30 and 47 yards, respectively. Pope also sent one of his kickoffs deep into the end zone for a touchback.
Shorter (2-2) has a lot to look forward to this fall, as Coach Zach Morrison and crew look to build on a successful spring season, highlighted by a historic win over Edward Waters last week, and soar to new heights in the near future.
