VALDOSTA — For the second time in less than a week, Valdosta High’s football team walked off the field with a 48-7 victory.
Like it did in its season opener, Valdosta defeated a Region 3-AAAAA football team 48-7 on Thursday night at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. Last week, the Wildcats beat Jenkins by the same score.
“I was real proud of our young men,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “They played well.”
The Wildcats excelled in pretty much every facet of the game. They rushed for 145 yards. Quarterback Kyle Rowe passed for 154 yards (on 10-of-18 passing) and threw two touchdown passes. The Wildcat defense scored two touchdowns, and did not allow a touchdown until the reserves came in at the end of the third quarter.
The Valdosta-Windsor Forest game was changed to Thursday night due to concerns stemming from Tropical Storm Hanna, which could have forced the Savannah area to evacuate today.
Valdosta jumped on Windsor Forest quickly, scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter, and building an early 21-0 lead.
On its first possession of the game, Valdosta drove 79 yards in 10 plays. On the first play, receiver Dontavius Sapp got behind the cornerback and Rowe hit him for a 32-yard completion. Rowe later found Jay Rome twice, for 20 yards and 14 yards, to prolong the drive. On first down from the Knights’ 13, Rowe fired a strike to Travoris Belcher in the end zone for the touchdown. John Mark Stephenson’s extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing possession, Windsor Forest quarterback Donovan Campbell tried to hit a receiver on third-and-long. But Belcher stepped in front of the pass, picked it off, and took off for the end zone. The senior crossed the goal line untouched for his second touchdown of the game, giving the Wildcats a 14-0 lead.
Valdosta’s defense forced another punt, then the offense added another seven points to the scoreboard. On second-and-goal from the 8, Rowe faked the handoff, rolled left and fired a bullet to Sapp in the end zone for the score, giving Valdosta a 21-0 lead.
Valdosta could have made it a blowout by halftime, but made its share of mistakes in the second quarter. With around four minutes left in the half, the WIldcats drove to the WFHS 2, but fumbled, blowing a golden opportunity to extend the lead. On each of its other two possessions, Valdosta was driving in Knights territory when a holding penalty drove the team back and killed the drive.
But once they came back out in the second half, the Wildcats started dominating again.
On their first possession of the third quarter, the Wildcats punched it in. Eight straight running plays moved the ball to the Windsor Forest 35, then an 18-yard pass from Rowe to Sapp on third down prolonged the drive. On the next play, Rowe handed off to Vashon Johnson, who went left, cut between left tackle Antonio Foster and left guard Willis Fussell, and took off for the end zone. A defender converged on Johnson at the 3, but he lowered his shoulder, absorbed the contact, got free and trotted into the end zone for the touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 28-0 lead.
After the Knights went three-and-out, Belcher’s 44-yard punt return, all the way to the WFHS 14, set up Valdosta’s fifth touchdown. On the second play of the drive, Tim Kier went right, broke through the line, then plowed over a defender at the goal line for a 5-yard touchdown run, making it 35-0.
On Valdosta’s next drive, with the starters resting on the sidelines, the second team punched it in. On second-and-12 from the Knights’ 24, quarterback Chad Prain faked the handoff from the shotgun, went right, and broke into the secondary. Like Kier had a few minutes earlier, Prain lowered his shoulder, ran over a defender and crossed the goal line to make it 41-0.
Windsor Forest got on the board with a score at the end of the third quarter. Campbell threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Daryl Johnson, their third hook-up of the drive. Morgan Francisco’s extra point made it 41-7.
The fourth quarter was played with a running clock, due to the mercy rule.
Valdosta’s defense put the final score on the board. With five minutes left to play, Campbell tried to run left. But sophomore linebacker Justin Williams stripped the ball from him, then raced 55 yards untouched for the touchdown, making the final score 48-7.
Belcher had a big game for Valdosta, catching three passes for 51 yards and a touchdown, returning an interception for another touchdown and returning three punts into Knights territory. Sapp also had three catches (for 48 yards) and a touchdown. Johnson led Valdosta with 58 yards rushing on 12 carries, and also scored once.
Campbell was Windsor Forest’s top performer, completing 11-of-26 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown.
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Discussion
Wildcats rout Knights
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