VALDOSTA — Close several times this season, Gary Simon finally got the crease he’d been looking for Saturday.

And the Valdosta State return man made the most of it, taking a Delta State punt 70 yards to the end zone to give the No. 16 Blazers the lead for good in the second quarter of their 56-27 homecoming win at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. 

It was the Blazers’ second return touchdown of the day, part of a special performance from VSU’s special teams units.

“We’ve been talking about it all during practice and I told them just give me one block and I was taking it to the house,” Simon said. “They gave me more than what I needed and I just appreciate my blockers.

“Coach (Jake) Grande been hitting us with it all day that special teams wins games. I listen to Grande all day every day at practice and we finally got what we wanted.”

After Delta State (4-4, 3-3 in the Gulf South Conference) had erased a 21-7 deficit in the first quarter to tie it at 21 on Chris Robinson’s third touchdown with 4:48 left in the half, Simon provided the spark for the Blazers to pull back away. Fielding a Cody Mills punt at the VSU 30, Simon got a couple blocks and hit the home sideline and dashed the rest of the 70 yards from there, cutting inside at the 15 and diving into the end zone with 2:12 to go in the half.

“He’s a dynamic player and that was the difference in the ballgame was special teams,” VSU coach Kerwin Bell said after Blazers improved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the GSC with their fifth straight win. 

Simon nearly had even more.

Earlier in the second quarter, he returned a punt 73 yards for an apparent score but a VSU penalty negated the long return. And in the third he was tackled at the Delta 3 on another return that was also shortened by a Blazer penalty. 

Three near scores, but instead Simon had to settle for one and 135 yards on three returns, the third most in Blazer history.

“I was just hoping they were going to keep kicking it to me and then all I had to do was wait for the blocks,” he said. “I wasn’t frustrated, I was just happy I got my offense to where they could score.

“I saw my teammates Dre (Andre Johnson) and Tello (Donatello Brown) telling me to come that way and I came that way, they blocked and I scored.”

It’s something the Blazers had been waiting on, even making a few tweaks to try and get Simon and the return game going.

“We knew we had a special guy and we were frustrated,” Bell said. “I told Jake, let’s do whatever we have to do. Let’s change personnel.’ We worked hard on it the last couple weeks and we’ve really been pushing that we have to get more out of our return game, especially with him at the punt return.

“That’s starting to pay off.”

Grande, VSU’s special teams coach, added: “It’s passion that those guys showed out there by working hard and just giving Gary a lane and then Gary did the rest once we got the ball in his hands by making those guys miss.

“It’s been right there and these guys have been working really hard in practice and it showed out there today that if you do what you’re coached to do and give Gary a little bit of space, he’ll get one in the end zone for us.”

Said Brown: “We just try to get a good block and let Gary get out in space and do what he does best, which is score.”

It worked. 

So too did the Blazers’ field goal block unit for the second straight week. After Selwyn Carrol blocked an extra point to help the Blazers edge Mississippi College last week, Brown scooped up a blocked field goal and raced 78 yards to give VSU a 21-7 lead with 4:43 left in the first quarter Saturday.

“I preach to them every day in meetings that one play can make all the difference, and they proved that twice in two weeks on field goal block, where they blocked the kick and it won the game,” Grande said. 

Brown added: “One of my teammates gave me a call and said he was going to go block it, I just gave a good rush off the edge, he got his hand in there, and I just scooped and scored. The rest was history.”

The Blazers needed those special plays to help overcome a sluggish offensive performance. The Blazers had just 166 yards at halftime and didn’t get rolling until the fourth when they scored four times to put the Statesmen away. Cedric Hollingshed scored on a 1-yard run on the first play of the fourth and added another 1-yard run three minutes later to put VSU up 42-21. That second score came on the heels of an 89-yard Raymond Palmer interception return, the first of two Blazer interceptions, which gives VSU 17 on the year, one behind Fairmont State for the national lead. The second, a leaping grab by Johnson, was also turned into points when Adam Robles hit Stephen Denmark from 35 yards out. 

“We were getting into some bad and distance, and I knew that if we could just get back into some good down and distance situations, that we’d be OK,” Bell said.

Robles also connected with Anthony Ingram for a 13-yard score with 2:08 remaining as the sophomore completed 7 of 12 passes for 119 yards after relieving Roland Rivers III in the third quarter. Rivers was 9-of-21 for 199 yards and one touchdown, a 10-yard pass to Dallas Baldner, while also rushing for 49 yards and a 5-yard touchdown. 

Delta State, which had 307 yards of offense at halftime, finished with 477 yards and got its lone score after the break on a 23-yard Tyler Sullivan pass to Tyler Harrell with 5:06 left. Robinson, whose three touchdowns give him 23 on the year, the most in the country and a new school record for a season, finished with 131 yards rushing and 79 receiving, both game highs.

Jamie Wachter is the sports editor of the Valdosta Daily Times and can be followed on Twitter @jlwachter.