Christian Malone
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — Six touchdowns.
It’s not often that a player scores six touchdowns in one football game. But that’s what Valwood’s Alex Waldron did last Friday.
Waldron scored six touchdowns and a two-point conversion, and led the Valiants to a 54-16 rout of Fullington Academy. The junior running back/linebacker caught three touchdown passes, ran for two scores and returned an interception for another touchdown.
“Alex had a great game,” Valwood head coach Brannon Tidwell said on Friday.
For his performance, Waldron has been chosen The Valdosta Daily Times’ Player of the Week.
On Friday night, Valwood fell behind 16-0 in the first quarter, after a couple of Fullington touchdowns. But then Waldron and the Valiants dominated the rest of the game, scoring 54 unanswered points.
Waldron scored Valwood’s first touchdown of the night when he caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback J.B. Bahnsen near the end of the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, after Bahnsen threw an 88-yard touchdown pass to Rob Blanton, Waldron ran for the two-point conversion to cut Fullington’s lead to 16-15. Just 14 seconds later, Waldron picked off a pass by Fullington quarterback David Faircloth, and raced 49 yards for a touchdown, giving Valwood a 21-16 lead.
Waldron then made it 28-16 when he scored on a 6-yard run with 6:47 left in the second quarter. With eight seconds left in the first half, Waldron found the end zone again, catching a 15-yard touchdown pass from Bahnsen that gave the Valiants a 34-16 lead at halftime.
Waldron added two more touchdowns in the third quarter. With 6:46 left in the third period, he caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Bahnsen. About three minutes later, he broke off a 26-yard touchdown run that increased Valwood’s lead to 47-16.
Waldron rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and caught three passes for 77 yards. All three of his catches went for touchdowns.
Valwood had 444 yards of total offense in the win. In addition to Waldron’s big game, Bahnsen threw for 237 yards and four touchdowns, Ian Mashburn ran for 124 yards and a touchdown on eight carries and Blanton caught two passes for 104 yards.
After two regular season games and a preseason scrimmage, Waldron and the Valiants are unbeaten. Valwood beat Sherwood Christian 10-7 in its scrimmage, then beat rival Tiftarea 25-21 in its season opener. Then came last Friday, when the Valiants hammered Fullington.
Valwood travels to Quincy, Fla. to face Robert F. Munroe Day School at 7:30 p.m. this Friday.
