VALDOSTA — Tonight, the Crisp County football team comes to Cleveland Field for the first time in a long time.

Crisp will battle the Valdosta Wildcats at 8 p.m. at Valdosta’s Cleveland Field at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

It will be the first time that Valdosta and Crisp County have played since 1979, when Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States and John Bond was Valdosta’s quarterback. The Wildcats and the Cougars have met 13 times in their history (their first game was in 1930), and Valdosta has won all 13 games.

Valdosta (1-1) will try to bounce back from a 28-24 loss to Brooks County last week, which knocked the Wildcats out of the top 10 in the Class 6A poll.

Crisp (0-2) has had a rough start to its season, losing its first two games (6-0 to Turner County and 37-0 last week against Cook). The Cougars are still looking for their first points of the season.

Valdosta will be a heavy favorite tonight, but the Wildcats’ coach is still not overlooking the Cougars.

“(They are) a lot more talented than their record probably indicates,” Gillespie said. “They’ve got (some good) players.”

Gillespie says that facing Crisp’s defense won’t be easy. The Cougars use a 3-3 base defense and blitz constantly, creating a challenge opposing offenses have to be ready for.

“They bring them from everywhere. Everywhere,” Valdosta’s coach said. “A corner, a safety, any of the three linebackers, the two outside backers. They may throw a coach or a cheerleader in there before it’s all said and done.

“If you like aggressive, blitz ’em up defensive-style football, then they’ll be fun to watch.”

Valdosta has worked in practice this week to prepare quarterback Shelby Wilkes and his blockers to face the constant mix of blitzes. Gillespie said the offense has handled it well in practice, but conceded that it will be harder in the game.

The Cougars’ defense is led by Sherrod Ruff, a college prospect who can line up as a defensive back or a linebacker, depending on what type of defensive look Crisp is using. Gillespie is also impressed with Crisp’s nose tackle, Elijah Johnson, as well as linebacker Alfred Patrick and cornerback Jarvis Lavant.

Crisp runs a pro-style offense. The Cougars graduated some key players in May, and with a number of first-year starters this year, they have not been able to score any points in their first two games. Their quarterback, Witt Campbell (who has thrown for 72 yards in two games), is just a sophomore.

“(They are) young offensively. They have struggled on the offensive side of the ball,” Gillespie said.

The offensive player that impresses the Valdosta coaches the most is 6-foot-4, 220-pound tight end Landon Whitman.

Last week, Cook’s defense held Crisp to just 13 yards rushing on 20 carries. Campbell completed just 3 of 16 passes for 28 yards.

Kevin Migrant rushed for 77 yards on 15 carries against Turner, but did not play against Cook. No other Cougar has more than 21 yards rushing this year.

Crisp County is coached by Lee Campbell, whose Hawkinsville teams won a state championship in 2003 and shared one with Clinch County in 2004. Campbell’s brother Chad was Gillespie’s defensive coordinator at Peach County, and became Peach’s head coach when the future VHS coach went to Georgia Southern in 2007.

“He’s building a program. I know that thing’s headed in a positive direction,” Gillespie said. “He’s a good football coach who knows how to win football games. ... Lee will do a good job of taking those athletes and getting them refined into the football program.”

In two games this year, Valdosta running back Nelson Herring has rushed for 223 yards on 28 carries (almost eight yards per carry), and has scored two rushing touchdowns. Malcolm Joseph has 176 yards rushing on 26 carries (6.8 yards per carry) and three touchdowns.

Wilkes has thrown for 264 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Joseph has been his favorite target so far, with 11 catches for 89 yards.

What does Gillespie believe his team must do to win tonight?

“We’ve got to be able to get the right bodies on the right people, with them being a unique style of defense,” he said. “That’s going to be important for us offensively, being able to get our people on their people. Defensively, we’ve got to get them off the field, don’t let them extend drives and get us the ball back offensively. ... When (a defense) blitzes like that, it’s a big play for somebody, and we’ve just got to make our share of plays. We’re going to need touches in order to do that. Crisp is good in special teams; they’ve got a good punter (Patrick Goodin) that averages about 40 yards a punt. We’ve got to play solid there as well.”