VALDOSTA –– At long last, the Valdosta State football team finally got a chance to celebrate its championship win at home.

The Blazers defeated Ferris State 49-47 in the NCAA Division II national championship game in McKinney, Texas on Dec. 15 –– finishing the season undefeated (14-0) for the first time in school history and capturing the program’s fourth national championship.

Players and coaches were introduced in a special ceremony to kick off the event. Afterwards, the team greeted students, fans and supporters and signed autographs at The Complex on Thursday.

Talk 92.1 radio host Scott James, who did color commentary for the Blazers this season, hosted the festivities. Fullback Stewart Spence addressed the crowd first, declaring that after completing their undefeated championship season, the Blazers “did everything legendary.”

“Thank you to all of our fans, all of our students, the community –– everybody that supported us throughout the season, from every home game to even traveling to McKinney, Texas,” Spence said. “We just want to say thank you to all of y’all. From now and forever on, we’ll always be the 2018 undefeated national champs!”

Valdosta mayor John Gayle declared Jan. 24 Valdosta State National Championship Football Team Day. In addition, the team was also honored with a special video tribute and congratulations from newly-minted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

Former Valdosta State head coach Kerwin Bell was in attendance and spoke to the crowd as well. Bell accepted an offer to join the University of South Florida as offensive coordinator on Jan. 10 –– leaving VSU after just three seasons in which he posted a record of 27-7.

Bell talked about what the celebration meant to him as he moves on to USF.

“I’m so blessed to be a part of this team and be the leader of this team,” Bell said in a press conference after the event. “A lot of people had some important parts of this (championship) –– our community, our administration. Our coaching staff and support group was really good.

“I just got to be the captain of the ship for three years. And this was just an unbelievable season –– best team I’ve ever had the chance to be the head coach of. I was proud of these guys for that, being able to be honored the way they were.”

The Blazers led Division II in scoring offense (52.0 points per game) and set a new single-season Gulf South Conference record for points scored. Quarterback Rogan Wells finished runner-up for the prestigious Harlon Hill Trophy, the Division II equivalent to the Heisman Trophy.

When Bell took the VSU job three years ago, him and his coaching staff put a plan in place to build a team that could not only be better in the present but sustainable for the future.

“After we won it, that’s all I thought about,” Bell said. “We put a plan in place and we stuck to it. There were some tough times, but we knew what we needed to do here –– we redirected the money as far as our scholarships into big guys and tried to develop offensive and defensive lineman and get depth and get really good football players we can win the line of scrimmage with on a yearly basis.

“When we recruited those players, the first two words we wanted to find out about a guy were what kind of character was he and was he a self-starter. If you look at that football team, there’s a lot of great character football players that were great leaders, unselfish and self-starters. They all wanted to be better, they all wanted to be great and when you a collection and group of guys together like that, you get a great football team like we had this year.”

Despite leading the Blazers to the mountaintop in Year 3, Bell’s relationship with USF coach Charlie Strong from their playing days and the lure of an opportunity to coach at the Division I level eventually won out. 

Bell, a native of Mayo, Fla., played at Florida and won SEC Player of the Year honors in 1984 and First Team All-SEC in 1985.

“I knew this team was built to last here and I wanted to be a part of that,” Bell said. “But this was the perfect scenario –– without being a head coach and moving on. Coach Charlie Strong, a guy who I respect a heck of a lot as a coach and as a person, I’ve known him for over 30 years. He’s a defensive guy. He wants me to come in and be almost the head coach of the offense and run that side of the ball. It was just too good of an opportunity to move up and I knew. I was getting to the point that if I didn’t make this decision this year, that it may not ever happen and I had to go ahead and make that decision.”

Joining his team one final time to help them celebrate on Thursday, Bell says, is admittedly bittersweet but a moment he can look back on with pride.

“Believe me, when I was making this decision (to go to USF), it wasn’t like this was a bunch of seniors and it was a one-hit wonder,” Bell said. “This team’s built to be successful over the next two or three years and I would’ve loved to have the opportunity to make that run with these guys. But like I told our team, I was just the captain of the ship. We’ve put a lot of good things in place here that I think are going to last for the next few years. 

“The ship’s gonna go sail with a new captain and I believe they’re gonna do unbelievable, great things. I’m going to keep up with them and I’m going to be proud to know that I had a small part in what they do from here on out.”