Christian Malone
VALDOSTA — Three weeks, three routs for the Valdosta Wildcats.
Valdosta High dominated another opponent Friday night, defeating Jonesboro 36-0 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium in its Homecoming game.
The Wildcats rolled up over 300 yards of total offense, and held Jonesboro to negative rushing yards and zero points. It was a good showing for Valdosta’s football team one week before region play begins.
“It was a great win, 36-0,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “Defensively, this was the best game we’ve played. I’m real proud of our defense. I thought they played lights out. Our offense played well; they had a big second quarter.”
Valdosta quarterback DaShay March had another big game. The junior ran for 121 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and completed 6-of-7 passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Jay Rome had another big game, catching five passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. Dhahrod Hall ran for 72 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Valdosta is now 3-0. The Wildcats open their Region 1-AAAAA season next Friday, hosting Northside at 7:30 p.m.
“If you had told me in the preseason that we would have these scores, I would have been very, very, very excited,” Tomberlin said. “There’s still plenty of work to be done, and I think it’s going to be a lot tougher in the region. But I’m very pleased with our defense, very pleased with our offense, and our kicking game.”
Jonesboro had the first chance to score Friday night when defensive lineman Marco Vivaldo returned a blocked punt to the VHS 16. But Cardinals quarterback Eric Holden was chased out of bounds at the 23 on third down by the Valdosta pass rush, and Jonesboro missed a 39-yard field goal.
Valdosta’s Devonte Foster ended Jonesboro’s next drive with an interception, and the Wildcats responded with their first scoring drive of the night, going 48 yards in four plays.
On the first play of the second quarter, with the ball at the Cardinal 8, March faked a handoff to one back, then handed to Hall. The senior running back went right, cut the corner and raced for the end zone. Hall was hit at the 1, and crossed the goal line as he was going down for the touchdown. Zach Wang’s extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
The Wildcats doubled their lead on their next possession. On the drive, March had a 22-yard run down to the Jonesboro 20. Then on the next play, he fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Rome, making it 14-0.
The next time Valdosta got the ball, March used his speed to put the ball in the end zone again. On second-and-4 from the Jonesboro 39, March took the snap, read the defense and took off running. He raced down the Jonesboro sideline, and beat a defender to the goal line for the touchdown. After Jonesboro was penalized for having 12 men on the field, the Wildcats went for two, and March found Rome for the conversion. Valdosta led 22-0 at halftime.
On the final play of the third quarter, Valdosta’s Brian Anderson took a handoff, found a hole on the right side of the line, and raced in for the touchdown, extending Valdosta’s lead to 29-0.
Avery Burney took over at quarterback on the next possession, and drove the Wildcats for their final score. On third-and-10 from the VHS 46, Burney went deep and found Rome for 38 yards, down to the 16. Two plays later, Burney took the snap, found a hole, and dashed 13 yards for the touchdown to make it 36-0 with 7:05 left in the game.
Jonesboro’s Jonathan Smith returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Valdosta 14, putting the Wildcats’ potential shutout in jeopardy. The Cardinals drove all the way to the 6, but on fourth-and-2, Homecoming king Dontavis Sapp recovered a fumble to end the drive.
Once the Wildcats went ahead by more than 30 points, the game went to a running clock.
Valdosta played primarily reserves in the fourth quarter, and Tomberlin said that a lot of players got to play Friday.
