'We rose up': No. 8 'Cats hold off Indians to stay unbeaten

Sep. 26—VALDOSTA — No. 8 Valdosta got the test it expected against McEachern, but the Wildcats (6-0) used tenacious defense to hold off the Indians (3-3) 24-14 Friday night.

"Defensively, we didn't play our best," Valdosta head coach Shelton Felton said. "I thought we played good. We rose up at times when we needed to make stops. We had too many busts that we normally don't do. Bad eyes at the time. Give those guys credit, (McEachern) had a lot of speed and we just didn't play great but the defense stood up when it was supposed to and made plays."

Leading 21-14, the 'Cats had a chance to jump ahead by two touchdowns off of a McEachern turnover with under 7 minutes to play. On fourth-and 5 from the 48, Grayson Leavy punted to McEachern's Terry Wilson, who muffed the return to hand it back to Valdosta first-and-goal from the McEachern 6.

Well in range for his trademark dive into the end zone, Valdosta's Eric Brantley appeared to cross the goal line on first down but was ruled short of breaking the plane. Brantley was stuffed on second down before fumbling the snap on third-and-goal from the McEachern 1 — Valdosta's third lost fumble of the night.

"We've got to clean up a lot," Felton said. "When you're playing a good team, you can't make those mistakes. We've got to punch those in. That's what we do. We came through with our ball security. We turned the ball over. They made plays on the ball but at the same time, we've got to be able to win by small margins. It could've been a bigger margin if we just punched it in when we were supposed to."

The 'Cats responded by derailing the Indians' ensuing drive as junior quarterback Jaydon Kinney was sacked twice for a 22-yard loss, then a false start pushed the Indians back to their own 1-yard line.

On third-and-37 from the 1, Kinney fired downfield to Savion West but Valdosta's Tim Roberson went up and picked off the pass with 4:20 to play — Roberson's seventh interception in the first six games.

After having an interception waved off earlier in the game, Roberson's pick late helped preserve the win.

"We just saw we were in a man situation. We brought pressure. We knew they were going to go to their best receiver so we put our best guy on him and Tim made a play like he's done all year long," Felton said of the play. "He made a hell of catch, a hell of a play — excuse my language — and that's what he does."

Roberson added: "It was a crucial play in the game. We were in Trojan Clamp and I just read it nice, went up for the ball and high-pointed it. That's how we play and what we practice in practice."

Valdosta ground down the clock with three straight runs before adding an Antonio Zapata 32-yard field goal to push the Wildcat lead to 24-14 with 2:25 left.

Looking to find the end zone to stay alive, the Indians went to Kinney, who hit West for a 20-yard gain on third-and-15 for a first down from the 15.

After spiking the ball to stop the clock, Kinney fired for West on three consecutive plays but Roberson managed to knock the ball away on second down and defended West well enough to force him to make two catches out of bounds on third and fourth down to turn it over on downs — allowing the 'Cats to run out the final 12 seconds.

"If you want to be the best, you've got to play the best," Roberson said. "Big time players make big time plays in big time games and I felt this was a big time game. People say we ain't played nobody yet, but every team we've played lined 11 people up and we lined 11 people up. We came out here to play ball."

Valdosta finished with 389 total yards — 209 coming on the ground — with 15 first downs and three turnovers.

Robinson turned in another impressive performance — going 10 of 18 for 180 yards and two touchdowns while carrying the ball 12 times for 88 yards and another score.

Jalen Whitehead had four catches for 74 yards with a touchdown while Ahmad Denson had a versatile performance with seven carries for 83 yards on the ground along with two catches for 31 yards and a touchdown. Charles Williams had a team-high 18 carries for 53 yards in the win.

"Best of all, on offense, I thought we matured," Felton said. "When we had to get first downs, we got first downs. When we had to go down and answer and score, we answered and scored. I thought Todd played great tonight. He made some passes, good throws, good decisions; he ran the ball well. I just know, anybody else, we could've scored more points. We just shot ourselves in the foot, but offensively, I'm proud of them. We've just got to block better up front."

Despite getting punched in the mouth on the game's opening drive, the Valdosta defense was able to respond much better the rest of the way.

Omar White led the team with eight total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Jarius Curry added six tackles, two for loss with a sack and Brantley had five tackles, three for loss and two sacks on the night.

In addition to the late interception by Roberson, the 'Cats also got takeaways from Jaylen Bentley and Khalil Mollay.

The Indians finished with 260 total yards with 15 first downs and 120 yards rushing on 33 carries, but committed five turnovers on the night — two lost fumbles and three interceptions.

Penalties were costly for the Indians as they were flagged six times for 68 yards — three of which came on pass interference calls.

Kinney went 8 of 25 for 140 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. West was targeted 13 times Friday night, hauling in five catches for 107 yards and two scores. RJ Echols finished with two catches for 22 yards.

Valdosta took a 14-7 lead to the locker room at halftime as sophomore Khalil Mollay picked off Kinney to end the second quarter.

Two pass interference penalties on the Indians helped the Wildcats get into scoring range late in the second quarter.

On third-and-3 from the McEachern 48, the Indians were hit with interference to move the ball to the 33. Robinson broke a 24-yard run down to the 9 and after missing top target Jalen Whitehead on a jump ball on first-and-goal, Robinson went back to the taller Whitehead and this time, he did not miss on a 9-yard pitch and catch to put Valdosta ahead 14-7 with 14 seconds left before halftime.

Facing a third-and-20 from the McEachern 30, Valdosta tied the game at 7 when Robinson hit Denson on a 30-yard touchdown pass with 9:20 left in the second quarter.

The Indians launched an impressive opening drive as they picked up three consecutive first downs to move the ball across midfield to the Valdosta 31. A run by Kinney on fourth-and-1 from the 21 gave the Indians their fourth first down of the drive. On third and 17 from the 26, Kinney found West for a touchdown to put the Indians ahead 7-0 with 8:30 left in the first quarter.

On the next Valdosta drive, Robinson went to Denson on second down and got the ball down inside the red zone for a first down from the McEachern 13. After a 6-yard gain by Williams and a 3-yard gain by Robinson, the 'Cats faced a third-and-goal from the 1. Robinson bounced outside, but exposed the ball as the McEachern defense closed in, allowing an Indian to knock the ball loose and recover it in the end zone to end the drive.

The ensuing drive stalled as the Indians were forced to punt, but Eli Lewis muffed the punt return to give it right back to the Indians, who were unable to take advantage as a 38-yard field goal missed wide on fourth-and-7.

UP NEXT

Valdosta gets a week off before traveling across town to Martin Stadium to face the rival Lowndes Vikings in the Winnersville Classic Oct. 7.

Lowndes will also have an open week after upsetting No. 2 Grayson 24-14 Friday night.

"Those guys do a great job over there, a great coaching staff with Coach (Zach) Grage and his group," Felton said. "It's going to be a challenge. It's a rival. The records don't mean nothing in a rivalry game. We're going to go to fight like we normally do, we're going to play hard and we're going to reach the end zone. That's the goal."

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.