MACON – While the Valdosta Wildcats drew first blood, they failed to overcome a massive first-half deficit in a 48-20 loss to Warner Robins Saturday in the Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic.

The ‘Cats (0-1) scored on a blocked punt, scoop-and-score by safety Camren Bailey in the first quarter, but quickly found themselves in a 27-7 hole against the Demons midway through the second quarter.

A touchdown pass from Joseph Gardner to Nevin Spivey cut the lead to 27-14 with 14 seconds to go before halftime. On the ensuing kickoff, it appeared the ‘Cats were building momentum as they recovered a fumble by the Demons to take over with a chance to make it a one score game.

The momentum was short-lived however as Gardner threw an interception to close the first half with the ‘Cats down 13.

With the Warner Robins defense shutting down the Valdosta running attack, the offense began to wear down the Valdosta defense – turning a competitive matchup on paper into a rout.

“It got away from us early,” Valdosta coach Shelton Felton said. “They did a good job of building formations on our run game. They load the box with a nine-man box and we didn’t hit on some throws. We attempted some throws, there were just a couple we didn’t hit on. We’ve got to go back and adjust and get better in that department.”

The game got away from the ‘Cats further midway through the third quarter as Jafredrick Perry returned a punt 59 yards to the house to put the Demons ahead 34-14 with 5:44 left in the third.

Despite the deficit, Valdosta still fought to try to stay in striking distance. Making it into the red zone, the ‘Cats ran a double reverse that resulted in Willie Almond hitting the quarterback Gardner for a one-handed touchdown grab late in the third quarter to cut the lead to 34-20 after the botched two-point conversion.

“Well, offensively, we didn’t play up to caliber,” Felton said. “We had too many turnovers and they made some big plays, but we’re a better team than that. We’ve got to come back and play better. We’ve got to make plays. We’ve got to be able to run the ball. This was the first time since I’ve been here that we weren’t able to run the ball, so that was disappointing. We’re going to get it fixed and we’re going to get it corrected.”

Defensively, signs of fatigue began to show in the fourth quarter. 

Perry scored on a close range touchdown to make it 41-20 with 11:04 left in regulation, then in a fortuitous bounce, quarterback Christon Lane fumbled a snap near the goal only to have it go right to Perry, who ran into the end zone untouched for the final margin.

“We didn’t play to our caliber on defense,” Felton said. “We got tired. We didn’t fly around. We missed a lot of tackles. We’ve got to do a better job of that. We’re a physical front line on defense, but we got tired, I think. And Warner Robins is a good team. A good team that laid on us and they were able to run the ball. Hats off to them, they made some plays that we should’ve made. We had a lot of plays out there we should’ve made on defense, but it’s okay though. We’ll move on to the next one.”

For the ‘Cats, it is the first time they’ve started 0-1 in a season since Aug. 18, 2017 when the team lost 45-0 to Lowndes in a season-opening rendition of the Winnersville Classic.

UP NEXT

Valdosta hosts Madison County this Friday, Aug. 27 at 8 p.m.

After a disappointing loss to Warner Robins, Felton vows a better product on the field in front of the home crowd at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

“We’re going to be tested,” Felton said. “That’s why, in our region, who we are at Valdosta; we play those kinds of games. We’ve got to show up and play our style of football. We look forward to playing Madison and going back to the drawing board, make the corrections we need to fix and prepare for Madison. We’re going to give a better showing next week, I promise you that.”

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