Bren Shepard/The Tifton Gazette
CNHI
VALDOSTA —
The Valdosta Wildcats turned two Tift County Blue Devil turnovers into touchdowns over a 16-second span at the end of the 2nd quarter and rolled to a 35-14 victory Friday night.
With the win Valdosta guaranteed themselves a playoff spot, and left Tift in a must-win game at home against the Lowndes High Vikings next week.
Lowndes defeated Coffee, 36-10, Friday night.
Tift drew first blood in the game when Tadric Jackson hit Nick Utley for a 10-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter. The drive was set up by a Jakevin Jackson interception on the Wildcat 15-yardline.
Valdosta and Tift would trade possessions, and just when it looked as if the Blue Devils were going to get the ball back a roughing the kicker penalty gave Valdosta a first down on the Tift 36.
Malcolm Joseph would bust through from one-yard out seven plays later to tie the game up at 7-7.
Tift would turn the ball over-on-downs on their next possession, but the resulting 39-yard field goal attempt would sail wide left to give the Devils a first down on their own 20 with only 1:15 left to play in the first half.
That’s where it all went wrong for the Blue Devils.
Valdosta’s Maurice Fason would pick off a Tadric Jackson pass and return it to the 35-yardline. The next play Shelby Wilkes would make Tift pay, throwing to Nelson Herring for a 35-yard touchdown and 14-7 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff Tift’s Gerald Pledger would have the ball stripped. The Wildcats pounced on the free ball and was in business again at the Tift 27.
Two plays later Wilkes would throw his second touchdown pass of the game to Bradley Felkel, turning the 7-7 tie into a 21-7 nightmare for the Blue Devils.
The second half didn’t start any better for Tift. The first play from scrimmage, Herring would catch the ball up the middle for a 65-yard touchdown pass, all but sealing the Devils’ fate.
After a fumble recovery by Rashad Parks on Valdosta’s second drive of the half, the Blue Devils would strike for their last time. Donnell Tuff would make an impressive diving grab from 10 yards out on a play which he was turned around the wrong way until the very last second.
Tift looked as if it might crawl back into the game after recovering an onside kick that bounced off a Wildcat player and sent both teams scrambling for it. The refs signaled Tift ball, sending the visitor’s crowd into a frenzy.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, nothing would come of it, as they turned it over-on-downs once again on a fake punt.
After that there would be little action for either team until Valdosta’s Demetrius Melvin caught a 16-yard touchdown pass to put the game out of reach for good.
Tadric Jackson would lead the Blue Devils offensively, throwing for 92 yards and rushing for 65.
Utley would add five catches and 49 yards to his already impressive season totals. If Utley can pull in five catches next week against Lowndes he will become the regular season receptions record holder for Tift County.
Wilkes led the Wildcat offense, completing 75 percent of his passes to 12 different Valdosta receivers for 256 yards and three touchdowns.
Tyron Watkins pulled in four of those passes for 41 yards.
Herring led Valdosta on the ground, rushing 18 times for 131 yards.
Tift will look to end a six-game losting streak next week against Lowndes, if the Blue Devils win they will be the fourth seed out of Region 1-AAAAA. That game, which will also be Senior Night, will be played at Brodie Field at 8 p.m.
