VALDOSTA — As expected, the Valdosta State football team had no problem taking care of the Edward Waters Tigers Saturday night.

The Blazers tied a school-record with seven rushing touchdowns en route to 535 yards of total offense and scored on nine of their 13 offensive possessions to rout the Tigers 58-10 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

“Anytime you can win, it is always good,” Valdosta State head coach David Dean said. “But to win one that way, pretty convincing, and to play well, that is always a plus. I’m awfully proud of the way they responded.”

With the win, the Blazers improved to 3-2 on the year as they prepare for a two-game road swing against Gulf South Conference opponents. Valdosta State visits West Georgia next Saturday.

Valdosta State’s offense dominated the night, especially on the ground. The Blazers recorded a season-high 352 rushing yards, the second most in school history, to score the seven rushing TDs. Freshman Austin Scott’s 97 yards led the day, followed by fellow freshman Cedric O’Neal’s 71 yards on the ground.

“It just happened, we came out and started running the ball and we kept feeding it and feeding it,” Scott explained. “If it ain’t me, as long as it is anybody else getting it done, it is cool.”

Quarterback Cayden Cochran racked up 70 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns, as backup quarterbacks Graham Craig and Justin Roberts also scored rushing touchdowns in the win.

Cochran also completed 10 of 14 passes for 173 yards with a second quarter 12-yard touchdown connection with Seantavious Jones that put the Blazers out front 31-10 before the end of the first half.

“I don’t know if we expect to come out and score near 60 every game, but we expect to come out and move the ball and take what they give us,” Cochran said. “That is what we did tonight. We do expect to get out there and be productive.

“It is awesome, we all put in the same amount of work,” said Cochran when asked about the number of players that scored touchdowns Saturday night. “To see them get in and do some good things is awesome.”

Defensively, Ryan Smith, Lawrence Virgil, Kenny Murphy and Doral White all recovered fumbles, although White fumbled the ball away after making his recovery. Alex Webster and Fred Williamson each recorded interceptions as the Blazers held Edward Waters to just 183 yards of total offense, including just 12 yards in the second half.

After Edward Waters was able to record a 14-play drive, that resulted in a field goal, on its opening possession, the Blazers allowed just one more drive where the Tigers had more than four plays in a given series. That was a six-play drive in the first quarter that ended with Virgil’s fumble recovery.

From there, the Blazers allowed one ill-advised touchdown pass in the second quarter and that was it. Valdosta State dominated the rest of the night.

“That is the one thing I told our defense when they came to the sideline, I said ‘now you’re used to the speed,’” Dean said. “I knew that was going to be something for us to be adjusted to. You just can’t simulate that in practice. I told those guys, ‘now you know the speed and what to expect and how quick you have to be. Lets go adjust and go out and play.’ That is exactly what they did.”

Valdosta State opened the scoring with a 10-play, 71-yard drive to start the game. The drive was capped off by a 5-yard rushing touchdown by O’Neal. Following Edward Waters’ field goal, Cochran capped off a 6-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run that put the Blazers ahead 14-3.

After a fumble recovery by Smith, Regginald Lewis broke free for a 21-yard touchdown run to put VSU out front 21-3. The touchdown came on the final play of the first quarter.

Less than eight minutes later, the Blazers extended their lead with a 30-yard field goal by Daniel Andersen.

After a 34-yard touchdown pass from Edward Waters, which cut the Blazers’ lead to 24-10, Cochran connected with Jones on the 12-yard TD connection before the half. It was Jones’ first touchdown catch since the week 2 win over Fort Valley State.

The Blazers dominated the second half, even more than they did in the first half. Cochran opened the Blazers’ first drive of the half with a 9-yard touchdown run, which was followed up by Murphey’s fumble recovery on the following possession, although Valdosta State couldn’t do anything with it.

Later in the half, the Blazers used a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Craig, a 1-yard touchdown run by Roberts and a 17-yard touchdown run by RJ Davis to build a 58-10 fourth quarter lead.

Things got heated late in the third quarter. Following a VSU kickoff, several players were involved in a scuffle, resulting in three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, two of which were called against the Blazers. As a result, VSU’s Eric Scott, who rushed for 17 yards, was ejected and his status for next week’s game with the Wolves is unknown at this time.

“It wasn’t a fight, it was just a punch that was thrown,” Dean said of Scott’s ejection. “A guy was grabbing his leg and he was trying to get him off. It is going to be up to the commissioner’s office if he is going to be able to play next week.”