Fort Valley State Defeats Johnson C. Smith In the Inaugural Florida Beach Bowl

Fort Valley State emerged victorious in the first-ever Florida Beach Bowl by defeating Johnson C. Smith 23-10. The Wildcats senior running back Brandon Marshall scored twice in the win. He started the scoring by rushing for a touchdown after a 12-play, 75-yard opening drive to lead 7-0.

In the second quarter, the weather helped Fort Valley to force a safety off a mishandled football in the endzone by the Golden Bulls punter to go up 9-0 with 4:19 on the clock. However, JCS couldn't hold possession and punted back to the Wildcats. Kelvin Durham guided the Fort Valley to an 8-play, 60-yard march for a Brandon Marshall 9-yard touchdown reception with 15 seconds before halftime. 

The Golden Bulls trailed 16-0 coming out of intermission. After a Wildcats punt and personal foul, Johnson C. Smith was on the 15-yard line in a prime position to score. But the Fort Valley top-ranked defense held, and Morillon-Garcia finally booted a 30-yard field goal to get on the scoreboard. 

In the next possession, Kelvin Durham located Jaren Lawson along the Johnson C. Smith sidelines and outran the Golden Bulls' secondary for an 84-yard touchdown strike. The Wildcats extended the lead 23-3 with 4:16 in the third quarter.  

Johnson C. Smith running back Jacob Newman burst left through the offensive line for a 6-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 23-10 with 2:14 remaining in the third stanza. Both teams abstained from scoring in the final quarter, as the Wildcats prevailed 23-10 in the first Florida Beach Bowl. 

Fort Valley amassed 243 yards of offense compared to the Johnson C. Smith's 150 total yards in the contest.   Quarterback Kelvin Durham was highly efficient in the pouring rain completing 10-of-14 passes for 167 yard and two touchdowns.   Brandon Marshall rushed 25 times for 65 yards, one rushing touchdown and a receiving score.

Johnson C. Smith's signal-caller Jamere Cherry had a rough outing by connecting on 8-of-23 passes for 72 yards.  The Golden Bulls had four rushers to total 54 yards on the evening.