Matt Aiken

STAFF WRITER

The Press-Sentinel

The den of the Valdosta Wildcats, usually referred to as “Death Valley,” had more of an Okefenokee feel to it as the rain fell upon a soggy 32-7 defeat of the Wayne County Yellow Jackets on Friday.

“We just played poorly,” said Coach Daryl Jones.

First half turnovers proved costly when, on the second play of the game, a Brandon Henry fumble gave the Wildcats the ball on Wayne’s 29-yard line. Four running plays later and with 9:45 left in the first quarter, the Wildcats hit pay dirt.

“We didn’t hold on to the snap all night,” said Jones, “We put our defense on the up hill all night.”

A steady drizzle during the first half led to kicking woes for the Wildcats who missed three-out-of-five PAT attempts during the game.

The Yellow Jackets first few series didn’t improve much as they fumbled snaps, dropped balls and incurred penalties. The Yellow Jackets did not make a first down the whole first quarter.

The momentum continued to swing in Valdosta’s direction towards the end of the first quarter after a 40-yard punt return put the Wildcats back deep into Wayne territory. Starting at Wayne County’s 21-yard line, the Wildcats began their next scoring drive. Five plays later, the Wildcats scored again on a Cedric Hatten quarterback keeper into the end zone, bringing the score to 12-0.

Wayne County’s defense stiffened on Valdosta’s next series, forcing the Wildcats to punt. Again the Yellow Jackets got the ball deep in their own territory but began to drive the ball out with a couple of hard runs by Chris Byrd. This gave Wayne County its first first down of the game.

However, after a nice pass from Josh Roberts to Henry, the Wildcats forced another turnover that gave them the ball on Wayne’s 33-yard line and set up their third scoring drive of the half. Five plays later, the Wildcats scored giving them an 18-0 lead. Valdosta attempted a two-point conversion but came up short because of a good, hard tackle by Roberts.

The Yellow Jackets best offensive threat came with just under four minutes left in the half. Darrell Vaughn picked off a Hatten pass and returned it to Valdosta’s 44-yard line.

Off of hard runs by Roberts and Byrd, the Yellow Jackets push the football inside Valdosta’s 10-yard line just before the first half ended.

By the second half the rain had stopped in Valdosta and the Wildcats wasted no time in putting the game out of reach. On the second play of the opening series, Valdosta running back Corey James took a handoff up the middle and ran it for 80 yards and a touchdown. The PAT was good and this gave the Wildcats a 25-0 lead.

On the next series of plays, Wayne County put together its longest drive of the game. The Yellow Jackets strung together an 11-play drive again with hard running by Byrd and Roberts. A 15-yard pass interference penalty also helped.

The Jackets drove the ball to Valdosta’s 30-yard line where Kyle Keown attempted a long field goal that had the distance but went just wide right. In the game, Keown punted seven times for a 35-yard average.

Jones said he saw promise in this drive.

“We put together a good drive,” said Jones. “We just have to put those together more consistently.”

For the rest of the third quarter and most of the fourth, the Jackets and Wildcats exchanged punts.

On Valdosta’s final scoring drive it appeared the Yellow Jackets were about to force another punt. The defense had stopped the Wildcats on two running plays. But with the Yellow Jackets not being able to buy a break, Valdosta threw a deep pass that was deflected by Wayne’s Scott Perry. The football bounced high off his hands and into the hands of Valdosta receiver Brett Chism.

This 39-yard pass play gave Valdosta the ball on Wayne’s 19-yard line. Three plays later, the Wildcats scored.

The Jackets answered the Valdosta score late in the fourth quarter with one of its own.

Wayne County took over on Valdosta’s 44-yard line after the Wildcats fumbled the snap on a punt. In the five-play drive, quarterback Roberts ran the ball for five yards, and completed a pass to Antonio Atkins for three yards. On a quarterback keeper, Roberts rushed in for the score. Zac Smith’s PAT was good.



Next game Appling

The Yellow Jackets will face Appling County at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Jaycee Stadium. In its opening game, Appling beat Toombs County 29-6. Clint Smith rushed for 104 yards, scored one touchdown and threw for two more. Smith scored on a 1-yard run, threw scoring passes of 8 and 33 yards, and also connected on a two-point conversion.

Appling scored 22 points in the third quarter.

For Toombs, Nick Fletcher had 47 yards on 11 carries and scored Toombs only touchdown on an 82-yard kick off return.