Jordan ready for Valdosta

Christian Malone

August 31, 2006 11:51 pm

— VALDOSTA — One of Utah’s best football teams is ready to play Georgia’s most famous team.
Jordan High, the No. 3 team in Utah’s largest classification, 5A, has come to Winnersville to face Valdosta High, the nation’s winningest high school team. The Beetdiggers (2-0) face the No. 6 Wildcats at 8 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
It will be a battle of two football programs from two different areas of the country who have each won their share of state championships. Jordan has won 11 state championships, while Valdosta owns 23 titles.
Jordan head coach Alex Jacobson has said the trip will be like a bowl-game experience for his players.
“This is a great opportunity for us, to come to Valdosta and play a team with the tradition that Valdosta has,” Jacobson said.
“It’s going to be fun,” Jordan quarterback Sean Taylor told The Salt Lake Tribune earlier this week. “It’s a new brand (of football). They’ve got a good reputation, a lot of national titles and stuff.”
Jacobson has a tremendous amount of respect for the Wildcats’ football program.
“They’ve got a great program, a first-class program,” Jacobson said. “We’ve tried to model our program after Valdosta’s. If you saw our weight room, it would remind you a lot of theirs. Valdosta’s got 23 state championships and a great history. They’re the kind of program you want to model your program after.”
Jacobson had been wanting to face a big-time program, and in February, he called Valdosta athletic director Warren Weeks and asked if VHS still paid teams to come to Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. The teams worked out the details, and now the Beetdiggers are in Valdosta to play the Wildcats tonight.
Valdosta has paid Jordan $12,000 for the trip. The team still had to hold fund-raisers and the players had to come up with $300 apiece to make the trip, but their coach says it was worth it.
“It wasn’t a hard sell for the kids. When they heard about Valdosta, and the chance to play a team with that kind of history, they were excited about it,” Jacobson said.
“This is a chance for these kids to see a part of the country they’ve never seen before, not to mention they get to play a great football program. This will be a great learning experience for them.”
Jordan runs a spread offense, with some option plays mixed in, much like the University of Utah. The Beetdiggers use a variety of defenses, getting in three-, four- and sometimes five-man fronts, depending on the situation.
“We’ll spread it out,” Jacobson said. “But we also want to be able to run it. I believe you have to do both. We want to play old-school football, and that means blocking and tackling.”
Jordan is blessed with playmakers at the skill positions. Taylor, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound quarterback with a strong arm and 4.5 speed, was an All-State quarterback last year. Running back Houston Cassita also has 4.5 speed, and he used it to rush for 1,019 yards and 19 touchdowns last year. Jordan’s top two receivers are junior Cody Raymond, another 2005 All-State selection, and Scotty Ebert, who has verbally committed to BYU.
“We’ve got a good group of kids,” Jacobson said. “They’re fun kids to be around and coach.”
“Jordan’s got some athletes, no doubt about it,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “They looked pretty good on film. I tell you, they worry me. They spread you out and throw it, and they do a good job of it.”
Last Friday, Jordan routed Layton 35-0. Taylor threw three touchdown passes, and the Beetdiggers’ defense held Layton’s passing attack to just 144 yards of total offense and no points in the victory.
Jordan arrived in Valdosta on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, they toured Moody Air Force Base. The team was also scheduled to go to Wild Adventures during their time in Valdosta. On Thursday evening, the team held a closed practice at Valdosta’s stadium, which gave them a chance to work out on the Sprinturf playing surface at Bazemore-Hyder. Before practice, the team toured the Wildcat Museum at the stadium.
Practicing at the stadium also gave Jordan a chance to experience South Georgia’s intense heat and humidity, which Jacobson admitted was a concern.
“I’m worried about the humidity,” he said. “We’re not used to (South Georgia humidity).”
Unlike most of his players, Jacobson has been to Georgia before. He did his missionary work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Georgia in the early 1980’s. He spent time in Columbus, LaGrange, Griffin and Rome. He came away from his mission with fond memories of the Peach State.
“You have a lot of great people in the state of Georgia,” Jacobson said. “The people there are so nice. You truly feel southern hospitality there.
“While I was there, I got to see Georgia play BYU when Herschel Walker was playing for Georgia and Steve Young was the quarterback for BYU. Those were two amazing players, and what a great experience to get to see them play against each other.”
Jacobson has also talked about Valdosta with former Valdosta State offensive coordinator Mike Leach, now the head coach at Texas Tech. Leach was a friend and teammate of Jacobson’s growing up in Cody, Wyo.
So what is a Beetdigger?
Jordan’s mascot dates back to the school’s early days, when students were dismissed from school each fall to help local farmers harvest the sugar beets. Though the sugar beet industry is gone from the Sandy area, the school has kept the unique nickname for its athletic teams.
This will be Valdosta’s season opener. Last week, the Wildcats defeated Bainbridge 16-13 in a scrimmage at Bazemore-Hyder.

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