Top-ranked Valdosta hammers Lee County

LEESBURG — Valdosta High School defensive players jumped, yelled and pumped their fists in the air.

After the way they played in the first half Friday night, the Wildcats should have celebrated.

They probably should have thrown themselves a party.

The top-ranked Wildcats forced Lee County into six first-half turnovers, turning all but one of them into points as Valdosta thoroughly embarrassed the Trojans 27-7 on Homecoming and Senior Night at Trojan Field.

And the Trojans (6-3, 2-2 Region 1-AAAAAA) had nobody to blame but themselves, especially the offense.

Lee had trouble generating a rushing attack and its passing game was virtually nonexistent. They managed just seven first downs, three of them coming on the Trojans’ scoring drive.

Unlike the past two seasons when Lee County gave perennial power Valdosta (7-1, 2-0) all it could handle, the Trojans had no such fight Friday night. And Lee County’s second straight loss is going to sting for a while.

“We can’t blame it on our offense, and we can’t blame it on our defense, we just have to play better as a team,” senior defensive lineman Tory Carter said.

With the Trojans off next week, they may need to do some scoreboard watching. Lee County will travel to face Douglas to meet Coffee in its regular-season finale on Nov. 4, needing a win to make the playoffs. The Trojans can still make the postseason even if they lose, but they must have Houston County lose its final two games against Northside-Warner Robins next week and in its season finale against Valdosta.

“We’ve got another game still, we just have to focus on getting better,” Lee County coach Dean Fabrizio said. “We’ve got to get ready for Coffee in two weeks, and we knew coming into this region that this was going to be a dog fight each and every week. That’s what it’s turned out to be. We know we’ve got to regroup and come back again. Bottom line is we can’t turn the ball over as much as we did.”

Valdosta’s offense didn’t have to work very hard Friday night. Its defense set up every first-half score inside Lee County territory.

A deflected pass that defensive back Jayce Rogers intercepted on the Trojans’ opening possession looked more like a center fielder shagging a fly ball. Rogers caught the ball and returned the interception to the Lee County two-yard line. A little tricky play between quarterback Hunter Holt and Wesley Veal helped the Wildcats find the end zone on a 17-yard score to grab a 7-0 lead.

And the rout was on.

Lee County fumbled on its ensuing possession at its 18, setting up another score as Valdosta built a 14-0 advantage with 6:19 left in the first.

The Wildcats led 27-0 before Lee County scored its lone highlight on Mark Robinson’s seven-yard touchdown run. Robinson had caught a 36-yard screen pass from quarterback Jase Orndorff on the previous play to set up the score.