VALDOSTA — Two turnovers, a missed field goal, 14 penalties costing 110 yards and yet Valdosta still earned its second straight victory against Lowndes in the Winnersville Classic thanks to a flawless defensive performance.

The Wildcats completely controlled the first half of the 54th Classic, rolling to 263 yards of offense against what had been a stingy Viking defense en route to a 10-point lead, but the game shouldn’t have even been that close.

Valdosta built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter at Martin Stadium behind two long, methodical drives. The ‘Cats ran 12 plays on their first drive before settling for a 28-yard field goal, and one possession later Seth Shuman ran into the end zone untouched on a 10-yard bootleg.

On the first play of Lowndes’ ensuing drive Jalen Harrell jumped on top of a loose ball at the Vikings’ 38-yard line, and just like that Valdosta was prepared to deliver the knockout blow.

Unfortunately for Valdosta, that swing never connected. A fumble at the 20-yard line prevented the Wildcats to adding to their lead after the turnover, and on the next drive Valdosta drove to the goal line before Shuman tossed his first interception of the season.

The ‘Cats had one more chance to add to their lead just before halftime when Shuman found tight end Jontae Baker for a 23-yard gain down to the 25-yard line, but a pair of holding calls forced the offense out of field goal range and into a third-and-37 from which they couldn’t recover.

“We didn’t get the points that we needed to just because of some mistakes,” said Valdosta head coach Rance Gillespie. “We had a turnover down here. We had a holding penalty when we were inside the 20, and just a couple of things like that we have to eliminate.”

Despite going scoreless in three straight trips within Lowndes’ 30-yard line to end the first half, Valdosta’s lead never shrank because of the phenomenal play of its defense.

Led by senior linebacker Todd Bradley, the Wildcats’ defense held the Vikings to just 85 yards of offense in the first half. In six first half offensive possessions, Lowndes went three-and-out twice, punted after four plays once, and turned the ball over once. LHS also came up short on a fourth and inches play at midfield.

Bradley, a Georgia Southern commit, finished the game with 10 tackles — three coming behind the line of scrimmage. The four-year starter is just one of the guys Valdosta defensive coordinator Alan Rodemaker credited as he deflected praise from his unit’s performance.

“First of all, it ain’t got nothing to do with me, our kids prepared for these guys and play these guys better than anyone,” Rodemaker said. “That’s been the case since I’ve been here. They’ve just played well against these guys because they grow up with them. It’s special to them.”

After getting roughed up early on in the season, Valdosta’s young defense has gotten stronger and stronger as the season has gone along, but they gave no indication of their play on Friday. Rodemaker hopes the performance can act as a precursor for future defensive success down the road this season.

“It proves to me, and it proves to our kids now, we’ve got potential with our group,” he said. “I told them tonight, I said, ‘just play to your potential,’ because we haven’t all year.

“Not one game this year. Maybe a quarter or a half against Tifton, but other than that we haven’t played to our potential. I’ve always thought we could be a good defense, but we haven’t looked like it this year.”

Valdosta tacked on another touchdown on the first possession of the second half to extend its lead to 17-0, but Lowndes returned the ensuing kickoff return 78 yards for a touchdown, pumping life back into the crowd at Martin Stadium. After the ‘Cats went three-and-out in response, the momentum on the Viking sideline was practically palpable.

But Valdosta held Lowndes off the scoreboard, and out of the red zone completely, over the Vikings’ next three possessions. Lowndes quarterback Austin Dixon, who entered the game completing 69 percent of his passes for 1,413 yards and 18 touchdowns to six interceptions, was held to 12-of-25 passing for 115 yards with several incompletions on deep shots downfield into one-on-one coverage.

Lowndes primarily targeted the 5-foot-8 Jayce Rogers downfield against the 6-5 Xavier Jenkins and the 6-foot Tayvonn Kyle, but the sophomore corner knocked down nearly every ball the came his way, except for the one he picked off to seal Valdosta’s 17-7 victory with under two minutes remaining.

“We knew they’d try him because he’s given up some this year, but most of the ones he’s given up he’s right there.” Rodemaker said. “I told him on the interception, ‘son, if you’ll learn to play over top of a guy and put him on your back, you’ll pick off a lot of passes. You won’t just be lucky to break it up, you’ll pick off a lot of passes.’”

Derrick Davis is a sports reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times.