VALDOSTA — Six weeks since hitting rock bottom as a unit, the Wildcats’ offensive line has steadily improved ahead of the team’s Region 1-6A slate.

No. 7 Valdosta High (3-3) travels to Warner Robins on Friday for its region opener against Houston County (2-4) with an offensive front that’s been on the upswing since Aug. 24, when it allowed 10 sacks against Tift County.

“I think we’ve improved a lot over there,” said Wildcats head coach Alan Rodemaker. “I think that was a good learning experience for us.”

In Valdosta’s worst offensive performance of the season, quarterback Tate Rodemaker was sacked once every four drop backs, and running back Rajaez Mosley, Region 1-6A’s second-leading rusher with 579 yards, was held to 12 yards on 12 carries.

On the season, the Wildcats average 413.3 yards of total offense per game, but against the Blue Devils, they were held to just 155 yards. Though was a disappointing experience, it was ultimately a lesson offensive line coach Matt Winslette felt his unit needed to learn.

“Until you play a game on Friday night, and have some of the setbacks we had against Tift, things don’t show up like you think they have, or somebody exposes something that you obviously need to go back and spend a tremendous amount of time looking at how you prepare, how you’re teaching those five guys to handle those things in practice,” Winslette said. “Our approach, how we set our line, we changed that a little bit, and over time, what it’s done is, it’s allowed us to be able to see things a little bit better.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Valdosta’s struggles against Tift County could have been foreseen.

Although the starting five has been made up of the same players since the spring game, the group is comprised of four linemen making their first varsity starts. Left tackle Christian Jones was the Wildcats’ lone returning starter.

Twins Justin and Jaxon Harrell have settled into the starting guard positions, and Daunte Klingaman, a junior varsity tackle a year ago, has taken over at center to provide the team a bigger body inside. The only underclassman along the offensive line, sophomore Mark-Anthony Audain, plays right tackle.

The unit has gelled in the weeks since, but 80 percent of Valdosta’s offensive line made their second career start against Tift County and a defensive line that is arguably the most talented on the team’s schedule this season.

To compound the issue, a wrist injury held Audain out through the summer. His first varsity practice came at the beginning of training camp, and he started his first game after just eight to 10 practices.

“The funny this is, as far as offensive line maturity, he shows as much maturity as they do, just in the sense that none of them had ever started a varsity game,” Winslette said of Audain. “They all started their first game the week before Tift County, so they’ve all kind of just helped each other out.

“We started the season without a lot of experience, so they’ve all kind of grown together.”

Valdosta went back to the practice field following its game against Tift County and worked to improve its offensive linemen’s center of gravity, in addition to tweaking hot routes in an effort to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands more quickly.

The results have been encouraging. Over the first two games, contests against Maynard Jackson and Tift County, Valdosta totaled 332 yards of total offense per game at 5.62 yards per play, including just 80.5 yards on the ground at 2.77 yards per carry. In the four games since, including matchups against Region 1-7A opponents Colquitt County and Lowndes, the Wildcat offense has averaged 454.75 total yards at 7.74 yards per play, with 144.25 rushing yards per game at 5.34 yards per carry.

“The kids really took the challenge of: we’re not going to let it happen again, and it really hasn’t,” Winslette said. “Out of 51 or 52 attempts the other night in protection, I think we gave up three sacks. That’s one for every 14 or 15 snaps…

“Since then, we’ve played two really good defenses in Colquitt and Lowndes, and we’ve handled it a lot better.”

If Valdosta can continue to protect its quarterback like it has in recent weeks, it could be a difficult proposition for any team in the region to keep pace.

Tate Rodemaker has thrown for a region-high 1,696 yards and 17 touchdowns to just five interceptions, a majority of which has gone to the region’s leading receiver, Aalah Brown, who has caught 32 passes for 495 yards and six scores.

There are still challenges ahead for the Wildcats’ offensive line. Lee County has a talented three-down front, and Winslette said Northside Warner Robins’ defensive line always plays at an elite level. Though there may not be a team left on the schedule with more talented pass rushers than those at Tift County, there are some teams with four down linemen that will make for difficult tests in the coming weeks.

“If they can rush four every down, that’s one more guy every snap versus three-down teams, which if they only rush three, you’ve really got a chance to two double teams if that’s all they bring,” Winslette said. “In four-down rushes, you’ve got to be really good all the way across, because you’re only going to have one double team at the most, and so you’ve got three guys one-on-one in protection.

“The next four down team that I think does a really good job up front is Coffee.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.