By Chris Walsh
VALDOSTA – At the end of the first half, Valdosta State was struggling, and losing 16-13.
Then, sitting in the locker room at halftime, VSU head coach David Dean told his team how they were going to win the game.
“I said, at the half, that we were going to come out in the second half and run the ball right at them,” Dean said.
The result was VSU going on a 35-0 run to jump on the Indians and establish a dominant Blazer victory.
Taking a lot of credit for the second-half dominance was the offensive line, which not only helped Michael Terry rush for 139 yards and two touchdowns, but also kept quarterback Willie Copeland off the turf.
“I just can’t say enough about the offensive line. They played great,” Dean said.
Terry had another big game, which left him just 30 yards shy of breaking 1,000 yards on the season. His 970 yards put him in seventh place on the single-season VSU rushing list. His two touchdowns also moved him into a tie for eight place on the all-time rushing touchdown list.
Terry now sits just five touchdowns shy of breaking Aaron Jenkins’ record of 15 rushing touchdowns, set in 2001.
So how did the senior out of Americus feel when he knew his number was going to be called a lot in the second half?
“I got excited. I knew the whole game that we could run the ball on them,” Terry said.
At the half, the Blazers were having a tough time with the ground game, but had shown signs of life. Out of their 75 total rush yards, 35 had come on Terry’s eight carries.
Despite nursing a rib injury, Copeland was having success running the ball, too. He had 35 yards on six carries in the first half.
To start the second half, Coach Dean showed the team he wasn’t exaggerating at halftime. VSU ran the ball five straight times, all by Terry. The result was 35 yards and a Blazer first down inside the Catawba 10-yard line. Terry had two more runs, before Copeland connected with Josh Rayam for a five-yard touchdown.
The Blazers continued the trend throughout the third quarter, and into the fourth. Terry ran the ball on nine of VSU’s next 14 plays.
With the running game working so well, the Blazers scored on every possession of the second half. Twice it was Terry finding the end zone.
In all, the Blazers were able to put up 285 rushing yards on 52 attempts against one of the country’s toughest run defenses. Terry finished the game averaging six yards a carry.
In the fourth quarter, fullback Scott Palmer and reserve quarterback Tucker Pruitt ran in touchdowns to give VSU four rushing scores on the day. The 2007 Blazers rank third on the VSU single-season list in rushing touchdowns, and are six scores away setting a school record.
VSU welcomes back North Alabama next week for the national quarterfinals, a team the Blazers beat 27-24 on Oct. 27. In that game, VSU rushed for 143 yards on 32 carries. Terry had 88 yards on 16 carries that afternoon.
