Blazers blow 16 point lead, use Andersen’s game winner as time expires

VALDOSTA— The Valdosta State football season started off with a bang on Saturday night as the Blazers used a last second field goal by Daniel Andersen to secure a 25-22 victory over the Wingate Bulldogs.

Andersen’s 43-yard field goal split the uprights as time expired to cap off a game winning 27-yard drive which was led by redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Whitmire—who replaced quarterback Jimmy Coy midway through the third quarter.

“I just tried to keep myself calm and collected and I just relied on my team to do the right thing and they relied on me,” Andersen said. “It felt good when I hit it and then it started to curl a little bit and I was like ‘lord please just get it through there’ and it got the job done.”

Whitmire said the drive still hadn’t kicked him yet.

“I can’t even explain it,” Whitmire said. “It still hasn’t kicked in yet. After all of this I am sure it will everntually.”

After trailing the entire game, the Wingate Bulldogs knotted the game up at 22-22 with 48 seconds to play, however a short kickoff to cornerback and return man Matt Pierce set the Blazers up for the game winning drive.

After a start in which Valdosta State held a 16-0 lead, the opening half of play ended in horrendous fashion for the famed red and black.

The Blazers surrendered 14 points in the final 1:12 seconds as Wingate quarterback Cody Haffly found wide receiver James Bowden on two separate touchdown passes—the second of which came as time expired for the opening half after VSU failed to run the entire clock out on downs.

Although it was in doubt on whether Bowden maintained possession of the ball on his way down and whether or not he stayed in bounds, the touchdown stood at VSU’s halftime lead was 16-14.

After the ruling, VSU head coach David Dean met the referees on the field, while his team trekked off the field for halftime, asking for clarification on the previous touchdown ruling.

“Well first off I was mad at myself,” Dean said. “We felt like we had enough time to snap the ball and let the clock run out. Jimmy snapped the ball a little bit quick and he took the knee just a little bit quick and it gave them .7 (seconds) and then they threw the ball in the end zone. I just felt like he wasn’t in. From our stand point it didn’t look like he was in and I just felt like the wrong guy made the call.

“When he rolled over our guy come up with the ball,” Dean continued. “I just couldn’t understand how they could say he had possession. We’ll go back and look at it and if I’m wrong then I’ll apologize to them and hopefully if they’re wrong they’ll apologize to us.”

The Blazers opened the scoring up on the night with a touchdown on their opening possession—after forcing Wingate to a punt on their opening possession— behind a 53-yard touchdown run from the shotgun by senior running back Ronnye Nelson.

VSU followed their opening drive touchdown up with another touchdown two drives later as Michael Brown broke loose down the right sideline for a 36-yard touchdown run, which gave VSU a 14-0 lead.

Early on Valdosta State utilized three punts from junior Jack Fulford to pin the Bulldogs deep inside their own 20-yard line—one stopping on the Wingate one-yard line, which Valdosta State turned into a safety two plays later, and the other stopping on the Wingate four-yard line.

“Jack is a huge weapon and he does a great job,” head coach David Dean said. “The first snap of the day was low and he went and picked it up and kept his composure and he kicked the ball and got a great roll out of it. I just thought that Jack did an excellent job forcing them to drive the length of the field.”

Quarterback Brett Whitmire—who took over as quarterback on the Blazers 12th offensive possession—led the Blazers to three field goal scoring drives as he led the offense to 243 of the 430 total yards of offense.

“I had so many butterflies, I was so nervous,” Whit mire said. “It had been two years since I had played an actual game, so I was pretty excited.”

Whitmire finished the game 14-23 for 201 yards while redshirt junior quarterback Jimmy Coy finished the game 11-27 for 101 yards, which too many has sparked a quarterback controversy within the team.

“We are going to go back and look and find out who played a little bit better,” Dean said after the game when asked about his quarterback situation. “It is kind of hard to see who is making the right reads from the side. Right now Jimmy is out starter and he is going to come in and if Brett beats him out this week then (Brett) will start and they both know that.”

Both Valdosta State quarterbacks managed to complete passes to 14 different players—including senior Ronnye Nelson, who caught three passes for 49 yards while rushing 10 times for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Valdosta State’s only injury on the night came inside the final minute, when pre-season All-American and defensive captain DeMario Jones was carted off the field with a right ankle injury.

“I was just trying to get the ball and they fell right on it,” Jones said after the game. “I will be ready to go next week.”

The Blazers return to action next Saturday when they visit Newberry S.C., to take on Newberry College.

Score by quarters:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
Wingate 0 14 0 8 22
Valdosta St. 7 9 3 6 25

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