By Austin Bruce

VALDOSTA — Sept. 10, 2022, is a day that’s not lost on Blazers head coach Tremaine Jackson.

The reason why: it was the day he suffered his first loss in Titletown, a 45-40 upset loss against Virginia Union.

Now, two years on from that game, Jackson and the No. 1 Valdosta State Blazers (11-0) will get a chance to get some payback against the No. 25 Panthers (10-3) when the two teams cross paths again Saturday afternoon.

This time, however, the stakes will be much higher. The winner of this one will advance to the NCAA National Semifinals for a chance to advance to the national championship.

Though he isn’t necessarily focused on getting revenge, Jackson does see Saturday’s matchup as a chance to right some wrongs.

“I don’t know if I’ve been waiting on it, but not too many times in life can you correct some wrongs. We’ve got an opportunity to do that. That was our first loss here. I think we were No. 3 in the country, not that I remember, but we were there.”

The Blazers are coming off a 33-17 win over Miles College in a game that saw VSU ahead by as many as 27 points before surrendering a couple of scores late.

Jackson felt his team didn’t play at its best last Saturday and says his players shared a similar mindset.

“I’ve been really proud of our kids because they recognized it,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t just something that I was just saying or that people thought I was in La La Land. They recognized it as soon as it was over with, and we know we have to play better. Just playing to our standard, regardless of what the score is, regardless of what time the game is, regardless of having a clock or not having a clock, we got to play better. They’ve been really good about that this week.”

The Panthers enter this one riding high on one of their best teams in school history, having won their first playoff games in program history to set up this showdown.

Their success has been predicated on the success of running back Jada Byers. Byers is second in Division II in both rushing yards (1,947) and rushing touchdowns (26). Byers also has familiarity with the Blazers, having played in that 2022 game when he ran for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

“[We need to] be where we’re supposed to be, tackle the football, and limit his opportunities by getting them behind the chains on first and second down,” Jackson said on slowing down Byers. “If it’s third-and-one, the ball is going to him. Everybody knows that. If it’s first-and-10, the ball’s going to him. We got to be able to get on and off blocks and tackle extremely well just to get to where we want to get to on defense. We’ve done that for the most part all year. We got to do an exceptional job this week.”

Virginia Union’s rushing attack is only one part of an offensive attack that’s averaging 42.1 points per game (good for 8th in Division II). The Panthers also have a solid passing game with a unit that averages 229 yards per game.

“You can’t make them one-dimensional because they’re good on either side,” Jackson said. “What we have to do to be successful is find a way to take the ball away, get them behind the chains on the early downs, get off the field on third and long if we get them in that situation, and then we got to make sure we score on offense. If we can do that and we can do that effectively and work together, then I think the Blazers will have a really good day.”