HSU falls to Valdosta State

The Associated Press

ARKADELPHIA — Tucker Pruitt completed a 28-yard touchdown pass to R.J. Bastone with 1:18 left to finish a fourth-quarter comeback Saturday and give Valdosta State a 27-23 victory over Henderson State.

Valdosta (5-1, 3-1 Gulf South Conference) was down 23-7 at the start of the fourth period. With 13:50 to play, Roger King ran a punt back 65 yards for a touchdown. Pruitt followed with an 11-play, 65 yard drive, that culminated in a 12-yard pass to Albert Dukes to draw the deficit to 23-20. Valdosta finished with another 11-play drive, this one for 85 yards and the winning score.

Chris Hart threw Valdosta’s first TD pass of the game, hitting T.J. Williams from 20 yards out. Hart finished with 9 completions on 14 attempts for 85 yards. Pruitt completed 17 of 25 for 253 yards and the two TDs. Neither threw an interception.

Roch Charpentier completed three touchdown passes for Henderson State (3-4, 2-3), hitting Greg Godfrey on scoring tosses of 9 and 5 yards and Garett Manning from two yards out, the last of which coming with 5:07 left in the third quarter.

Charpentier completed 33 of 46 attempts for 294 yards and no interceptions. Bernard Palmer rushed 22 times for 80 yards.

On the winning drive, Valdosta took over on its own 15 with 3:28 to play. After three incompletions, Valdosta converted on a fake punt, with running back Markus Manson taking a direct snap for 12 yards.

Valdosta faced another fourth down with 1:52 remaining. A long pass intended for Dukes was deflected, but Bastone caught the tip, giving the Blazers a first down and opening the way to victory.