Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta running back Shavious Wright (5) carries during the second quarter against Northside Friday in Warner Robins.

No. 5 Valdosta (8-2, 3-1 Region 1-6A) wasted no time handling Northside (3-6, 0-3) last Friday, drubbing the Eagles 48-7 on the road.

It was perhaps the most complete performance of the season for the ‘Cats on both sides of the ball. Here are a few nuggets I’ve gleaned from the regular season finale:

1) Tate Record-Breaker

Valdosta senior quarterback Tate Rodemaker went 15-for-20 for 339 yards a career-high six touchdowns against Northside, giving him 34 this season –– a new school record. 

This season marks the second straight year Rodemaker has broken a school passing record. Last season, he threw for 31 touchdowns and a record 3,539 yards.

“I think it’s good,” Tate’s father, head coach Alan Rodemaker said of his recent stretch. “He’s getting protection and I think the run game helps with that. They can’t just line up and tee off like Lowndes and some of those other teams did if we’re one-dimensional. Our offensive line is getting better and being more balanced helps Tate and all of them. He’s benefitting from everybody else playing well and his offensive coordinator calling the game well.”

Rodemaker heads into the postseason on a run of three straight 300-yard passing games. In his last three games, the South Florida commit has completed 54-of-78 passes (69.2 percent) for 988 yards with 13 touchdowns and one interception.

His recent performances even reeled in two more Division I offers as Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh threw their hats into the ring for his services on Monday.

2) Eagles grounded

The Valdosta defense bounced back in a big way against Northside, holding the Eagles to 173 yards of total offense.

Northside came into the game boasting two of the top three rushers in Region 1-6A in Mason Ford and Zikhyree Hill. Despite busting a 40-yard touchdown run in the first half, Ford finished with 11 carries for 29 yards. Hill had two carries for seven yards.

Though the Eagles still had 156 yards rushing, Valdosta was never threatened by an inept Northside passing attack. Ford completed just 2-of-10 passes for 17 yards.

With the win, it was Valdosta’s fifth time holding a team to seven points or fewer this season.

“Our D-line played good,” Rodemaker said. “I don’t know if anybody stood out because I feel like I was hollering and screaming at everybody [laughs]. Our D-line had to play good and our linebackers had to play good with the running attack they had. When you’re playing the option, your front seven better play good if you’re gonna hold them to seven points.”

3) Balancing act

The percentage of run vs. pass was something coach Alan Rodemaker has been keeping an eye on most of the season.

After struggling to run the ball early on, the ‘Cats have really found their footing on the ground. Against Northside, the ‘Cats ran 57 total plays –– 37 runs, 20 passes. That’s 65 percent running plays and 35 percent passing plays.

The 37 carries produced 162 yards with T.J. Dailey and Shavious Wright combining for 23 carries. Over the past two games, Valdosta has a total of 331 yards rushing with three touchdowns.

“Listen, the more we run, the more dangerous we are,” Rodemaker said. “If people have got to honor the run and play the run, then it opens up things in the passing game and I think the second half of the season, we’ve gotten much better running the football. We’ve got some talented guys and our offensive line is coming around, but coach (Josh) Crawford called and excellent game and it’s just great when we can be a lot more balanced.”

4) Consistent dominance

Junior Javonte Sherman and senior Tarrell Roberts were electric once again for the ‘Cats last week.

Sherman caught seven passes for a team-high 150 yards and four touchdowns while Roberts caught five balls for 97 yards and two scores against the Eagles.

For the second straight week, Valdosta’s two best pass-catchers balled out and helped the team lock up home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“It’s pleasing to me to have them consistent,” Rodemaker said. “They had a big game last week –– Javonte had a big game a couple weeks ago, Tarrell had a huge one last week. For them to come back and practice consistently after handling success and then coming out and doing it again, that says they’re growing up. I think both of those guys are growing up, they’re maturing and they’re handling their business better. I’m just proud of both of them.”

5) Make it, Take it

The ‘Cats are a No. 2 seed going into the Class 6A state playoffs for the second straight year.

After dominating Lovejoy 70-29 in the playoff opener last postseason, the ‘Cats got past Glynn Academy 35-24 before bowing out in a 56-21 loss to Dacula.

Through 10 games, the ‘Cats have already amassed eight wins after winning eight games total in 2018. With an offense averaging 41.8 points per game and a defense holding opponents to just under 21 points on average, the ‘Cats now sit just five wins away from their 25th state championship.

“Listen, I like make it-take it,” Rodemaker said with a smile. “That’s how we used to play basketball growing up. I’m glad we’ve got a week because we do have some injuries we need to heal up. A week off is going to help us. Now we’re going to get after it and get better, but we’ll let those inured guys get healed up and that’ll be huge for us going into the playoffs.”

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