KINGSLAND — Valdosta High has gotten back to its winning ways.

Valdosta defeated Chattahoochee 19-9 Saturday in the South Georgia Classic at Camden County High School.

“It’s good (to win),” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “We improved on offense and defense from last week. We’re still not where we want to be, but we’re getting there.”

The win was No. 9 Valdosta’s first of the season, and the first win for Tomberlin as Valdosta’s head coach.

“It’s great to be a Valdosta Wildcat,” Tomberlin said. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be coaching than Valdosta.”

The defense held Chattahoochee’s rushing attack in check, then in the second half, Michael Turner and the Valdosta offense took over.

Turner, in his first action at quarterback this season, went 7-for-7 passing for 89 yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for 24 yards, all in the second half. More importantly, he drove the Wildcats down the field for two second-half touchdowns.

“We had the ball three times in the second half, and we scored two touchdowns and ran out the clock on the third drive,” Timberline said. “I feel pretty good about that.”

Like most teams who run the wing-T offense, Chattahoochee prefers to run the ball. But Valdosta’s defense made it difficult on them, holding them to 22 yards rushing on 28 carries.

Valdosta broke a scoreless tie when it scored on its first possession of the second quarter. The Wildcats drove 87 yards in eight plays. The drive started with quarterback Alfrie Johnson breaking a 34-yard run. Later, Rashad Austin went 13 yards on a trap and Demetrius James went 20 yards on a toss sweep, helping the Wildcats move the ball into the red zone.

On the eighth play of the drive, on third-and-5, Johnson rolled right and found an open Jamil Chandler out of the backfield. Chandler caught the ball at the 5 and ran untouched into the end zone, giving the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.

Valdosta had another chance to score late in the half, moving the ball to the Cougar 16. But a holding penalty stalled the drive, and VHS wound up turning the ball over on downs. So the score remained 6-0 at halftime.

In the locker room, Tomberlin and his offensive staff, looking for ways to put points on the board, decided to put Turner in at quarterback to see what he could do.

Then Turner took control.

“We’ve got two No. 1 quarterbacks. I’ve said that all along,” Tomberlin said. “Alfrie wasn’t doing bad, but we decided to put Mike in, and see what he can do. We hoped to change the momentum, and I believe Mike did that.”