Wildcats dodge Jonesboro's upset bid

By Christian Malone

September 13, 2008 05:20 am

— VALDOSTA — Valdosta High dodged a bullet Friday night, scoring a fourth quarter touchdown to avoid an upset by Jonesboro.
Tim Kier’s 12-yard touchdown run with 8:35 left in the game gave Valdosta its first lead of the night, and the Wildcats held on to win 14-10 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
Valdosta (3-0), the No. 5 team in Class AAAAA, was the clear favorite coming into Friday’s Homecoming game against a Jonesboro team that was just 3-7 last season. But Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin had a bad feeling about this game, and his fears proved to be well-founded.
“I’ve been coaching a long time, and sometimes you feel that coming,” Tomberlin said. “I told (my wife) Angela and I told the coaches, ‘I think we’re in for a real fight.’ I don’t think there was anything wrong with our effort or our preparation. It’s just sometimes you’ve got to get hit in the mouth to wake up. We’ve got a fine football team, but we’ve still got a long way to go, and we’ve got to go quick.”
“I’m proud of (Jonesboro head coach) Clint Satterfield, my former player,” Tomberlin added. “He did a good job coaching them up. He told me that was the best game they’d ever played.”
Valdosta’s go-ahead touchdown was set up by a blocked punt. The Wildcats brought a heavy rush on Jonesboro punter Eric Cheney, and smothered the kick. Valdosta took over at the Cardinals’ 20.
“Coach (Bart) Shuman made a good call when we went after that punt and blocked it,” Tomberlin said. “That’s what helped us win the game.”
On second down, Valdosta quarterback Kyle Rowe handed to Kier out of the shotgun. The senior found a hole in the line, broke through, and beat a defender to the goal line for the score. John Mark Stephenson’s extra point gave the Wildcats a four-point lead, 14-10.
But Valdosta still had to hold on. After the Wildcats missed a 30-yard field goal, Jonesboro took over on the VHS 20 with less than two minutes left in the game. The Cardinals kept the drive alive when quarterback Cliff Crews hit Eric Herkley with a 27-yard pass on third-and-10. A controversial pass interference call against Valdosta — on a play where cornerback Terry Belcher flattened the receiver as the ball touched his hands — moved the ball to the Wildcat 38.
But Crews’ final four passes fell incomplete, including a Hail Mary on the last play of the game, and Valdosta escaped.
“I’m real glad this one’s behind us,” Tomberlin said. “Jonesboro did a good job against us. They’ve got some athletes.”
Valdosta had its struggles on offense, particularly when it moved the ball into Jonesboro territory. While the Wildcats amassed 328 yards of total offense, they shot themselves in the foot on more than one occasion while they were driving.
“Key penalties at key times hurt us, and the inability to throw the deep and intermediate passes,” Tomberlin said. “We could run the ball, we could throw the short passes, but when we got in third-and-15, we didn’t get it done. We’ll work on that this week.”
Valdosta running back VaShun Johnson did his part, though, rushing for 149 yards on 20 carries, with one touchdown. Kier added 84 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
The Wildcat defense was pretty dominant for most of the game. They held the Cardinals out of the end zone — Jonesboro’s lone touchdown came on an interception return — and limited their flexbone option attack to just 59 yards rushing on 29 carries.
Valdosta dominated the yardage in the first half, outgaining Jonesboro 166-36. But the score was tied 7-7 at halftime.
On the opening possession of the game, Valdosta had just driven into Jonesboro territory when disaster struck. Rowe tried to throw a screen pass, but the ball hit off the hands of the receiver and went in the air. Jonesboro’s Perry Woods picked the pass out of the air, and ran it back 50 yards untouched for a touchdown. Cheney’s extra point gave the Cardinals a 7-0 lead.
Valdosta moved the ball early on, but the drives kept stalling.
Early in the second quarter, Valdosta tied the score, driving 80 yards in eight plays. Johnson had runs of 17, 15 and 16 yards on the first three plays of the drive, and moved the ball into Cardinal territory. Later, Travoris Belcher took a screen pass 20 yards on third down, down to the Jonesboro 6. On second-and-goal from the 2, operating out of the split-T formation, Rowe gave to Johnson on a dive, and the senior back plowed into the end zone for the touchdown.
Jonesboro retook the lead late in the third quarter, after a Johnathan Smith interception gave the Cardinals possession at the VHS 47. Crews’ 23-yard run on a quarterback sneak moved the ball to the 15. Three penalties helped stall the drive, but then Cheney kicked a 44-yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 10-7 lead.
Valdosta drove the ball to the Cardinal 27 on the ensuing possession, but turned the ball over on downs. But soon after, the Wildcats blocked the punt, which set up the winning score.
Before Jonesboro took over for its final drive, the Wildcats killed most of the clock with a 10-play drive, all the way to the Jonesboro 8. But a delay of game penalty and an incompletion stalled the drive, and Stephenson missed a 30-yard field goal.
Valdosta begins its Region 1-AAAAA season next week, traveling to No. 2 Northside, which edged AAA No. 1 Carver 7-6 on Friday.

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