VALDOSTA — Mississippi College went into Bazemore-Hyder Stadium looking to avenge the upset bid Valdosta State denied it last season in Clinton, Miss.

The Blazers made sure to take the thought out of the Choctaws’ minds early Saturday in a 55-3 annihilation of the Gulf South Conference foe.

It was easily the best showing by Valdosta State (2-3, 2-2) this season as it set season highs in points (55), rushing yards (245), passing yards (239) and total offense (484 yards), while holding Mississippi College (0-7, 0-5) to just 231 yards — a season low for the Blazers’ defense — and forcing three turnovers.

Last season, sandwiched between big GSC battles against West Georgia and Delta State, Valdosta State made the mistake of overlooking Mississippi College and it wound up clawing out a win in a 42-41 shootout.

The Blazers had a different sense of urgency Saturday.

“Like I told them, it’s do or die,” said VSU head coach Kerwin Bell. “When you’re in that kind of situation that we’re in, you’ve got to win them all. You can’t take anything for granted. You can’t leave anything out during the week of preparation. You’ve got to get yourself ready to play the best football game you can play. Our kids did that this week.”

VSU certainly looked prepared against Mississippi College.

The Blazers ran 21 plays for 124 yards in the first quarter, taking a 7-0 lead on Rogan Wells’ 29-yard rushing touchdown. The redshirt freshman finished the game with 30 yards on the ground to complement a 14-of-21 passing performance for 158 yards and three more scores.

Wells’ touchdown run with 4:21 remaining in the opening quarter is the earliest Valdosta State has scored this season, and it marks only the second time its scored a first-quarter touchdown this year, but it was exactly what the Blazers’ “Black Swarm” defense needed to begin its redemption tour.

“That was great for us,” VSU senior corner Andre Johnson said after the game. “That’s the defensive dream, when we can get them down and we just play the ball we want to play.

“The secondary, our eyes start to get big because we kind of get to hunt a little bit. We kind of forced you to pass the ball, and that’s what we like. That’s what we like.”

Valdosta State’s defense entered the contest allowing opponents to average 30 points and more than 350 yards per game coming off a 42-13 loss against West Georgia, in which the Wolves racked up 550 yards of total offense.

Johnson said the unit collectively decided to move on from the past and focus on moving forward, beginning against Mississippi College.

“We made our mind up last week after an embarrassing loss that we were just going to turn the page and just work harder and move forward,” Johnson said. “I think the coaches did a great job this week with the game planning, and I think everybody recommitted themselves to what was important, and that was just coming out here and winning one week at a time.”

The Black Swarm didn’t just talk the talk, it walked the walk, beginning with Johnson’s tone-setting hit to break up a Choctaws touchdown, forcing them to settle for a 19-yard field goal at the end of a 17 play, 73-yard drive.

Mississippi College managed just 158 yards of offense the rest of the way.

Valdosta State pushed its lead to 10 with 9:24 in the second quarter when Wells hooked up with Dallas Baldner on a 14-yard touchdown pass, and on the ensuing drive, Brandon Roe intercepted a Mississippi College pass and returned it 19 yards to set up Wells’ second touchdown pass of the game, this one to Lio’undre Gallimore from 27 yards.

The Blazers took a 20-3 lead into the locker room, and on their first offensive play of the third quarter, last season GSC Offensive Freshman of the Year Cedric Hollingshed ripped off a 43-yard touchdown run to crush any hope the Choctaws had of a second-half rally.

Four different players finished the game with a rushing touchdown for VSU and four different receivers hauled in touchdown passes as the Blazers outscored the Choctaws 35-0 after halftime — marking the first time Valdosta State has scored more than 30 points in a single half in its past 15 contests.

“We made some changes to our coaches, as far as in the game here,” Bell said. “We brought Coach (Jeremy) Darveau back down on the field. We took my son Cade, who did a really good job of seeing things up there and making some calls up in the box.

“We put Coach (John) Peacock up there with him and brought Darveau down so he could really talk to the linemen down on the sideline. That was big for us.”

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