VALDOSTA — Rick Tomberlin and his Valdosta High players would rather not be 1-2 right now. But the Wildcats are moving forward and working on playing better this week.
Valdosta will try to even its record on Friday night, when Lincoln makes its annual trip from Tallahassee, Fla., to Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. Kickoff comes at 8 p.m.
Last week, Valdosta lost to defending AAAAA state runner-up Brookwood 9-7. The Wildcat defense kept Brookwood out of the end zone, but VHS was only able to manage one touchdown and just 153 yards of total offense in the loss.
“We have to execute better and make plays,” Tomberlin said. “We didn’t do that well enough against Brookwood.”
Tomberlin was very complimentary of his defense’s performance Saturday. The Wildcats held Brookwood’s rushing attack to just 81 yards rushing. Impressive, considering Brookwood loves to play power football, running behind its big offensive linemen, and Valdosta does not have a single 200-pounder on its defense.
“I couldn’t have been more pleased with our defense,” Tomberlin said. “They did a great job against Brookwood. They only allowed (81 yards rushing), which is pretty good.”
The offense, however, struggled, and it has been one thing the team has worked on a lot in practice this week. Valdosta has not made major changes — and it won’t — but Tomberlin and his staff have been moving players around, trying to create competition and giving players a look at more than one position.
That’s being done in hopes of improving the offense’s production.
“We didn’t play well (against Brookwood),” Tomberlin admitted. “We had one drive in the third quarter where we looked like the Valdosta Wildcats, but the rest of the game, we didn’t execute. Part of that is because Brookwood’s got such a good defense. We’re getting better in practice, but we still aren’t playing as well as we’d like.”
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If Valdosta is going to get back on the winning track this week, it will probably have to do it without arguably its most talented athlete.
Alfrie Johnson, who has played quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back for Valdosta this season, has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
Tomberlin declined comment on the suspension, saying he wanted to keep things in-house.
Johnson started the season at quarterback, but was moved to receiver and safety for the Brookwood game. Michael Turner had replaced him under center in the second half of the Chattahoochee game.
With Johnson out, sophomore Kyle Rowe has been getting more snaps at quarterback, in case Turner gets hurt. Sophomore Tavaris Belcher has also gotten some snaps at quarterback.
Turner injured his Achilles on Valdosta’s final possession Saturday, but practiced this week with no apparent trouble.
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After three games, Valdosta ranks third in Region 1-AAAAA in rushing, having gained 534 yards, an average of 178 per game. Lowndes leads the region with 733 yards, followed by Houston County with 594. The Wildcats are fourth in passing with 262 yards, well behind Colquitt County and Tift County, teams whose offenses have them throwing the ball considerably more than Valdosta does, and Coffee.
However, the Wildcats rank just fifth in the region in total offense, at 265.3 yards per game, and are sixth in scoring, with just 39 points.
Individually, running back Demetrius James is fifth in the region in rushing, with 213 yards. Michael Turner is fourth in passing, with 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Local Sports
Wildcats get ready for Lincoln
Tomberlin praises defense for holding Brookwood to just 81 rushing yards
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