LORMAN — The Fort Valley State Wildcats should head to Vegas. A huge gamble paid off for the ‘Cats Saturday as Fort Valley scored the winning touchdown on the last play of the game instead of attempting a tying field goal in a 20-17 squeaker past Alcorn State.

Losing close games is becoming something of a habit for the 0-3 Braves, as they lost last week to the Alabama State Hornets.

&uot;Those guys are working hard for a win,&uot; Alcorn coach Dr. Johnny Thomas said. &uot;We’re close.

&uot;We’re right at the brink of the threshold of winning.&uot;

The Braves were exactly one minute and 27 seconds away from a win when they turned the ball over on downs on the Fort Valley 24-yard-line leading 17-14.

The Wildcats did not look like they would threaten the Braves lead on the first two plays of the winning drive. Two passes were ruled incomplete that were close to being sacks or intentional groundings.

&uot;I’m not one to complain about officials’ calls,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;What they call, I believe. It’s not for me to blame them for a loss.&uot;

Fort Valley perked up when quarterback Brian Villanueva connected with Kent Schoolfield Jr. twice for a combined 32 yards and Anthony Snead once for 22 yards.

A pass interference call in the endzone on Braves defensive back Terrence Crimiel gave Fort Valley a first-and-goal from the 2-yard-line with :04 left on the clock. Cleo Stinyard ran in the touchdown on an off-tackle dive to give the Wildcats the win.

&uot;We’re 10 hours from home,&uot; Fort Valley assistant coach Robert Frost said. &uot;We didn’t want to go into overtime, we wanted to go home. We wanted the win.&uot;

Alcorn took a 17-14 lead in the third quarter after a Rico Cody interception set up a Rennard Reynolds touchdown catch thrown by back-up quarterback Damion Ford.

Starting quarterback Surhaver Fair left the game in the second quarter after a hard hit caused a mild concussion and left him disoriented, Thomas said.

Fort Valley also suffered a key injury, as head coach Kent Schoolfield Sr. was taken to an area hospital for evaluation after the game’s finale raised his heartbeat to an unsafe level. Frost said Schoolfield’s condition was not serious.

Alcorn led 10-0 at one point courtesy of a 2-yard Fair scramble and a 20-yard Erik Newman field goal. The Wildcats answered with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Schoolfield at the end of the second quarter for a halftime score of 10-7.