VALDOSTA — Valdosta High wrapped up its spring football season Friday night with the Spring Game in front of several hundred fans at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
The first-team offense battled the first team defense, and both sides had their moments Friday. Valdosta’s offense scored on two of its first three possessions, but after that, the defense dominated, and did not allow another score.
Overall, the Wildcats’ head coach was pleased with what he saw in the game.
“We were very competitive. I saw some good things on both sides of the ball,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “I couldn’t be much happier with the way things went. We had a good crowd. We saw some good things on offense and saw some good things on defense. We had a lot of warriors out there.”
On the first play of the scrimmage, quarterback Tavoris Belcher found Jay Rome on a 48-yard bomb, down to the defense’s 22-yard line. Tim Kier carried for 14 yards on the next play, moving the ball to the 8. On play No. 3, Belcher took the snap from the shotgun, ran the option to the left, cut inside, and raced into the end zone for the touchdown. Belcher ran in the two-point conversion as well.
Two series later, the first-team offense staged an 11-play drive, and punched it in for another touchdown. The drive was highlighted by a five-yard out route that Rome turned into a 20-yard gain, and two runs by Belcher to prolong the drive. On second-and-9 from the 23, Belcher handed off to Kier on a misdirection play. The junior halfback went outside, and raced into the end zone for the score. Kier ran in the two-point conversion, making the unofficial score 16-0.
From then on, though, the defense was pretty much dominant. The offense crossed midfield only once until the final minutes, and crossed the defense’s 40 only once during the remainder of the scrimmage. The defense stopped the offense for negative gains 20 times Friday night, including 12 times with the first-teamers on the field.
“Defensively, we did some real good things tonight,” Tomberlin said.
The second-team units came in the next three series, and the defense stopped the offense three-and-out the first two series, then four-and-out the next time. The first team returned for a couple of series after that, and also had trouble moving the ball.
The scrimmage was staged like a real game, except that there were no special teams. Drives were automatically started at the offense’s 30, and field goals and extra points were not attempted.
Every member of Valdosta’s varsity played Friday night, except for the kickers and a few players who were held out because of injuries. The “Young Guns,” as Tomberlin calls the players who have not cracked the two-deep lineup yet, also got their share of snaps.
“We got everybody in there, gave a lot of guys a chance to play,” Tomberlin said.
The first-team offense staged one last drive in the final four minutes of the scrimmage, moving the ball from its own 30 all the way to the defense’s 20 in four plays. But the first-team defense drove them back from that point; the next four plays all went for negative yardage, and the offense turned the ball over on downs.
Rome, a talented 6-foot-6 sophomore receiver, gave Wildcat fans a glimpse of his potential, catching three passes for 75 yards.
“Jay Rome looked real good,” Tomberlin said.
Belcher played quarterback this spring because fellow quarterbacks Kyle Rowe and Chad Prain are still playing baseball, but is expected to move to wide receiver or defensive back in the fall. On Friday, he completed 9-of-15 passes for 109 yards, and ran for 34 yards on 12 carries, with one touchdown. He completed passes to six different receivers.
“Tavoris is a real team player. He played quarterback this spring because we needed him to,” Tomberlin said. “He made some plays.”
Kier got most of the carries for the first team, and gained 59 yards on nine carries, scoring one touchdown. He is expected to battle Vashun Johnson, who was injured and did not play Friday, for the starting job at I-back. Kier was one of 10 running backs to carry the ball Friday.
Defensively, Tomberlin and defensive coordinator Jeff Arnette praised the play of the entire defense, particularly defensive tackle Parker Mathis, defensive end Damian Doe, cornerback Dhahrod Hall and defensive end Rob Morrison.
Before the varsity took the field, the teams from Valdosta and J.L. Newbern Middle Schools played each other for a half, and both squads played one half against Valdosta High’s rising ninth graders.
Heavy rains fell in Valdosta earlier Friday, but cleared out in time for the Spring Game. All of the water had drained off the field by the time the scrimmages started.
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