Dave Sundin | Special to the TimesValdosta head football coach Alan Rodemaker talks to his team in the huddle during a timeout against Lee County last Friday.

No. 3 Valdosta and No. 4 Lee County traded haymakers in a windshield wiper game last Friday night with considerable stakes.

Had Valdosta won, it would’ve locked up its 43rd region championship. But an ill-fated decision to field a punt combined with an Austin Beaver 20-yard field goal as time expired denied Valdosta the region title as Lee County edged Valdosta 53-50.

Here are some things I gathered from the game:

1) Roberts rises up

Valdosta senior receiver Tarrell Roberts had become a forgotten man in recent weeks in the ‘Cats offense. Roberts’ breakout game came back on Sept. 20 against Beaufort where he caught three passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. In his next three games, Roberts caught 11 passes for 45 yards with no touchdowns. It had gotten so bad for Roberts that head coach Alan Rodemaker called him out prior to last Friday’s game.

“Tarrell Roberts needs to get going,” Rodemaker said ahead of last game. “I mean, Tarrell Roberts is a guy that’s sitting there and most of it has been Tarrell’s issues.

“Tarrell’s a good football player and we need to get him going. That needs to be us and him tightening up and getting him the football and him making sure he knows what to do with it and handling himself correctly. Tarrell Roberts has underachieved for us thus far and we need to get him going.”

Roberts responded in a major way against Lee County, exploding for five catches for 171 yards and three touchdowns. The speedy senior’s first score went for 91 yards to put Valdosta ahead 36-28 with 7:55 to go in the third quarter. The last Wildcat score of the night went to Roberts as well, as he caught another pass from Tate Rodemaker and went 34 yards to the end zone to open up a 50-43 lead for the ‘Cats with 4:11 to play in the game.

After a slump of three games averaging 15 yards per game, it was a welcomed sight to see No. 2 remind everyone watching what he’s capable of.

“He stepped up,” Rodemaker said of Roberts after Friday’s loss. “Credit to Coach (Josh) Crawford with a lot of really good schemes and throwing out to the perimeter. Tarrell’s a jet and boy, he had a huge night.”

2) Defensive dud

Heading into the matchup against the Trojans, the Valdosta defense looked every bit like a championship-caliber unit.

The ‘Cats gave up 53 points in the loss Friday. In four games prior, Valdosta had allowed a total of 58 points.

The Trojans hit the ‘Cats for 453 yards of total offense, led by quarterback Kyle Toole. Toole completed 17-of-28 passes for 284 yards with three touchdowns. Valdosta’s vaunted run defense struggled mightily against the Trojans –– allowing 169 yards on the ground, the second-highest mark of the season. Lee County’s Preston Simmons had 19 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

Before Friday’s game against the Trojans, Valdosta had only given up three rushing touchdowns all season. The Trojans scored four in one game against the ‘Cats.

This side of Lowndes, not many teams had been able to gash the ‘Cats on the ground the way the Trojans did. 

The sky isn’t falling for Valdosta. 

Sure, on one hand, the ‘Cats came up with a dud in perhaps the biggest game of the season. On the other hand, Valdosta’s defense has been stellar most of the year. For their sake, the ‘Cats should hope this was just an off night and not something to worry about with the postseason two weeks away.

3) Dailey delivers

Valdosta senior running back T.J. Dailey turned in another monster game on Friday –– 17 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

One of Dailey’s scores was a 52-yard burst to the end zone. The 6-foot running back has 92 carries on the year for a team-best 543 yards and 13 touchdowns, which is now the most on the team ahead of receiver Javonte Sherman’s 11.

Dailey’s 13 rushing touchdowns is tied with Preston Simmons for the most in Region 1-6A, and his 543 yards rushing is good for second in the region behind Northside’s Mason Ford, whom the ‘Cats will see this Friday.

4) Tate on a tear

Valdosta senior quarterback Tate Rodemaker hasn’t had as gaudy of a statistical season as he had a year ago when he set a new single-season passing yardage record.

However, less has meant more for the University of South Florida commit. For what he hasn’t amassed in terms of yardage, he has more than made up for it in terms of accuracy.

Through nine games, Rodemaker has completed 72.3 percent of his passes (149-of-206) for 2,190 yards. Last season, Rodemaker completed 62.8 percent of his passes on his way to 31 touchdowns and a single-season record 3,539 yards.

“We know Tate was a junior last year –– he needed every snap just for experience,” Coach Rodemaker said. “Another thing about last year, we didn’t play very good defense so we had to score every opportunity we got. Last year, a lot of times, we were coming from behind. This year, we’ve played better defense. Some of the (playing from behind) hasn’t been required. Mike Miller has played a lot. He’s closed out a lot of games for us, rather than Tate trying to finish games for us.

“I think Tate’s done excellent –– I’d like to have two or three interceptions back because he hasn’t had many picks, but he’s thrown three pick-6s. Other than that, he’s completing 72 percent of his passes and his touchdowns –– he’s probably going to eclipse that touchdown mark, but not as many yards because he’s not had to run two-minute drill the whole second half to win the game like he did some last year. The yards don’t matter to me, the wins are what matters and that’s what matters to Tate too.”

Against Lee County, Rodemaker was brilliant, completing 19-of-24 passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.

More importantly, the ‘Cats are one win shy of last year’s eight-win campaign with the region finale at Northside looming before a bye and the first round of the state playoffs.

5) Friday’s firefight

On Sept. 13 against Colquitt County, the ‘Cats and Packers combined for 99 points, 1,250 total yards and 998 yards of total offense as Valdosta prevailed with a 50-49 victory.

Friday’s game was another instant classic. Valdosta and Lee County combined for 103 points, 1,244 total yards, 948 yards of total offense and only four turnovers.

The 103 points scored was the largest combined point total in 10 games between the two teams. The highest combined mark was 70 points as Lee beat Valdosta 63-7 last season.

6) Lee gaining ground

With the win Friday against Valdosta, Lee County has won the last two meetings against the ‘Cats. Valdosta had won the first eight games against the Trojans dating back to 2000.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at The Valdosta Daily Times.