No. 6 Valdosta denies comeback bid, beats No. 8 Coffee

Published 2:04 am Saturday, October 13, 2018

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Clinging to an eight-point lead with fewer than eight minutes remaining against No. 8 Coffee, the high-powered offense of No. 6 Valdosta failed to come through when a fumble in the red zone breathed new life into its opponent.

When gifted another opportunity by a defensive stop, the Wildcats finished the job.

Rajaez Mosley’s 3-yard touchdown run closed the door on the Trojans’ late comeback bid as the Wildcats walked away with a 37-22 victory Friday at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium to improve to 2-0 in the rugged Region 1-6A.

Valdosta led 30-7 after a 50-yard touchdown strike from Tate Rodemaker to Tarrell Roberts on the opening possession of the second half as the Wildcats appeared to be in complete control of a game they once trailed 7-0.

But a couple of fourth-quarter touchdown drives by Coffee turned the game into a competitive one down the stretch, forcing Valdosta to make winning plays instead of simply hanging on. The gritty ending could benefit the Wildcats later this season.

“Even though I didn’t want that to happen, it was probably good that they came back a little bit on us,” said VHS coach Alan Rodemaker. “We had to struggle, and we had to play four quarters, and we had to win it. It wasn’t going to be given to us.

“Every region game is going to be just like that, so we better learn how to play four quarters and finish football games.”

The Trojans may have never been able to draw within a single possession if it weren’t for a few costly miscues by the Wildcats.

Valdosta (5-3, 2-0) turned the ball over three times inside the red zone on a pair of fumbles and an interception.

Although Coffee (6-2, 0-2) entered the matchup averaging more than 200 rushing yards per game, it did much of its damage in the passing game Friday, picking up 297 of its 397 yards of total offense through the air, including touchdown passes of 80, 34 and 22 yards.

“We gave up just two gifts, on touchdowns, by our DBs, and that’s on me,” Rodemaker said. “I coach defensive backs. We’ll fix that, but it was just two gifts, and you can’t do that against a good football team.”

Valdosta’s effort up front was a different story. The ‘Cats held the Trojans to just 2.77 yards per carry on 36 attempts and generally harassed the opposing signal caller throughout the evening.

“I thought our front seven played the best game of the year,” Rodemaker said. “We moved some guys around, put some outside linebackers up, and I just thought our front seven played good.”

Tramonte Gardner was one of the players in a new position, moving from his usual spot at safety down to outside linebacker, where he made an immediate impact, notching an interception just before halftime to set up a scoring strike from Tate Rodemaker to Roberts on the final play of the first half to give Valdosta a 23-7 lead at the break.

Tate Rodemaker, who entered the game as Class 6A’s second-leading passer, completed 20 of 28 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns to one interception. Each of the trio of Aalah Brown, Jaheim Bell and Roberts caught at least five passes for more than 125 receiving yards, and Mosley rushed for 133 yards and two scores as the Wildcat offense rolled up 525 yards of total offense.

Rodemaker felt his team lacked excitement in its region-opening victory against Houston County a week ago, but there were no such issues against Coffee.

Armed with a couple of new props, the Wildcats’ sideline buzzed after every big play. Valdosta players received the opportunity to dunk on the black-and-gold “scoring bucket,” after scoring a touchdown, and Gardner showed off the Road Warrior-style turnover pads after his interception.

“It was fun for those guy,” Rodemaker said. “I thought that excitement was good, and it was contagious…

“Anything to make it fun, because even though we pound these guys, and we work their tails off. It was some of the seniors’ ideas to do some of that stuff, and I’m glad we did it.”

After a sack and an incomplete pass brought about a turnover on downs for the Trojans with just fewer than three minutes remaining, the Wildcats took the clock down to 1:45 before Mosley’s touchdown run secured the victory — and Rodemaker’s date with a cooler of ice water as the team celebrated the program’s 12th consecutive postseason berth.

“We’re in,” Rodemaker said after the game. “Now we’ve got to go for home field.”

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