VALDOSTA — The Valdosta State football team started its game week Sunday with a clear picture of its second round opponent for the first time since the Blazers were named the No. 1 seed in the Southeast Region eight days ago.
Catawba’s 66-35 victory against Albany State Saturday set the stage for the Indians to face VSU at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium this Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Blazers earned a bye week through round one of the playoffs, and spent it trying to heal up injuries to several players, including defensive lineman Melvin Black, running back Ronnye Nelson and quarterback Willie Copeland.
Sunday focus resumed back on the game ahead.
Blazers’ coaches have been watching film on Catawba since Friday and started drawing up a game plan Sunday morning. VSU players were rehearsing those plans Sunday afternoon.
“They’re a good football team,” VSU coach David Dean said. “Offensively they’re very, very productive.”
The Indians pose a strong offensive threat, having averaged 40 points a game on the season, and scored 66 against Albany State.
The Indians’ 66 were the most points Albany State allowed since it gave up 41 to VSU Sept. 1.
“They’re a scary bunch, averaging over 40 a game,” Dean said. “Any time you can score 60 points on Albany State, you’re very good, because that Albany State defense is pretty good.”
The Indians are led by the passing attack of Brad Roach. The 6-foot-6 signal caller has thrown 205 passes this season, at a rate of 59 percent for 3,044 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Roach spreads the wealth, with his two favorite receivers being Brent Johnson with 57 catches for 823 yards and eight touchdowns and Antwan Strong with 46 catches for 795 yards and six touchdowns. Roach threw five touchdown passes against Albany State, to set a new school record.
“They do a good job of play action passes,” Dean said. “They pound you with the run, get your safeties cheating up, and pull the ball out and throw a post over the top of you. So, they make you play honest, and they do a good job with the run game, and their play action passes.”
While the Indians have scored 45.8 points per game, they have allowed 18.6 by their opponents.
“They’re not very flashy on defense,” Dean said. “They’re solid. They’re good tacklers in the secondary, and they do a good job mixing up coverages.
“They gave up good plays against Albany.”
The Golden Rams, who scored three points against VSU, scored 35 points against Catawba Saturday.
The only other link from Catawba to VSU is two games in 2001 and 2002.
The Indians played VSU in the second round of the ’01 playoffs, and came away with a 37-34 come-from behind win, to eliminate the Blazers.
The following year, the last year the two teams faced each other, VSU got its revenge, winning 24-7 in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Blazers started working toward a repeat of 2002’s result rather than 2001 by keeping their timing during the bye week.
The Blazers’ will need their offense to be clicking against the high-scoring Indians, and are hopeful that the week off will not slow down their timing.
“We came out, and had good work last week,” Dean said. “We tried to address the issue with timing. We did a lot of team work, and tried to keep our timing like we we’re playing a game, the only difference is, we didn’t hit each other.”
Local Sports
VSU prepares for Catawba
- Local Sports
-
-
VSU teams hosting summer camps
The national champion Valdosta State softball team will host two separate summer camps this summer, as well as weekly clinics throughout the summer.
The two summer camps will be held on June 11-13 and July 9-11 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The camps will cost $100 each. -
David Dean Youth Camp begins next week
The David Dean Youth Football Camp is quickly approaching.
The fourth annual camp will be held May 29-June 1 at the Athletic Fieldhouse off Mary Street. -
National champion head coach rewarded with new truck
National champion head coach rewarded with new truck Valdosta State head softball coach Thomas Macera was rewarded with a new Toyota Tacoma from Valdosta Toyota on Wednesday for his team’s 4-1 victory over the University of California-San Diego in the Division II Softball National Championship Game.
-
Valwood’s Savino, Elliott named All-State soccer
Two Valwood boys’ soccer players have been named to the GISA Class AA All-State team.
-
All-American again
Go ahead and add another award to resume of this year’s Valdosta State softball team.
Between conference player of the week awards, a national player of the week award, All-Conference and All-Region honors and four All-American awards, the national champion Blazers had plenty of individuals honored for performances throughout the season, which ultimately led to VSU’s first ever softball national title. -
Local area events coming soon
Several local area runs will take place in the coming weeks.
Monday, May 28, there will be a Memorial Day 5K, which will begin at 8 a.m. from the VECA School located on the corner of Azalea Drive and College Street. -
Tech bound
Donjahae Jones gets it done in the classroom and on the track.
One of the top students in her class, and one of the top track and field competitors in the state, Jones will be taking her talents to the Division I level after she signed a track and field scholarship with Georgia Tech on Tuesday. -
Blazers garner All-Region honors
Two Valdosta State baseball players have been named All-South Region while a third has garnered Academic All-Region, according to announcements made by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and the Collegiate Sports Information Director's of America (CoSIDA) this week.
-
Lowndes' Phelps named tennis Coach of the Year
Lowndes tennis coach Heath Phelps has been named the Region 1-AAAAA girls’ and boys’ tennis Coach of the Year, after he guided both teams to region championships.
-
Wildcats close spring practice
VALDOSTA — The Valdosta Wildcats put their finishing touches on spring practice Saturday night with the playing of their annual spring game at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
No score was kept in the game, but the Wildcats did play best-on-best, pitting the starting offense against the starting defense. - More Local Sports Headlines
-
VSU teams hosting summer camps
