Quarterback Todd Robinson said members of the Valdosta football team spent most of their nearly five-hour trip to Snellville on their phone. The approach seemed to work, as the Class 6A No. 9 Wildcats showed no bus fatigue and showed championship potential on Friday.
Valdosta (5-0) emerged with a 27-14 win over South Gwinnett (3-1) in a rare regular-season road trip to metro Atlanta for a non-playoff game.
“The situation with the travel, it’s hard to go 4 ½ hours for a football game,” Valdosta coach Shelton Felton said. “But I’m proud of my gentlemen. I’m proud of my coaching staff. They did a great job.”
Robinson, a senior who has committed to Georgia, said he couldn’t remember the last time – if ever – he’d been in Gwinnett County. He left a memorable impression, throwing for 219 yards and three touchdowns on 19-for-25 passing and running 13 times for 94 yards.
“Like coach Felton said, you need to win on the road to win championships,” Robinson said. “And we did that.”
South Gwinnett quarterback Xavier Butler threw for 145 yards on 8-for-21 passing with one touchdown and one interception. Butler ran 13 times for 112 yards.
Robinson put on a one-man show for the first half, throwing for three touchdowns – a 15-yarder to Tremaine Johnson, a 5-yarder to Deron Foster and a 48-yarder to Eldemetrius Hunter. He threw for 120 yards and rushed for 61 in the first half.
“He’s the man,” Felton said. “You see that throw on the sideline? He’s our Superman.”
The first touchdown came after Valdosta’s Tres Ellison intercepted Butler’s pass and gave the Wildcats a short field at the 30. Four plays later Robinson hit Johnson for the touchdown.
“Every turnover is always great. We talk about getting turnovers and setting up possessions for our offense,” Felton said. “We have a very good offense this year, so we try to get them the opportunity to score.”
The pass to Hunter, which gave Valdosta a 21-7 lead with 7:33 remaining, was exceptional. The senior was bottled up as he rolled right to pass, but he ducked a the rush, scrambled the other way and had the awareness to stop short of the line of scrimmage and lob a pass to Hunter, who was 10 yards clear of the defenders and took it into the end zone.
South Gwinnett’s first-half highlight came after it twice had touchdowns negated because of penalties. On third down at the 27, Butler eluded the incoming rush and dodged tacklers as he dove into the end zone. That lengthy drive was extended when Valdosta was called for roughing the kicker penalty.
Valdosta got separation when Prince Jean got loose for a 31-yard touchdown run, his first. The Wildcats got an excessive celebration penalty and missed the 35-yard extra point, giving them a 27-7 lead at 7:12 in the third quarter.
But South got new life late in the quarter. The Comets were punted to the 2 when Butler connected in the right flat to Jackson Cook, who made a couple of players miss and went 98 yards for a touchdown, cutting Valdosta’s lead to 27-14 with 3:01 remaining.
From there the Valdosta defense stiffened and did not surrender another first down. The Wildcats were able to run out the clock.
“Our kids will fight. They’ll compete,” South Gwinnett coach Bryan Lamar said. “It was a big-time game, a big stage. I don’t think they flinched. I don’t think they backed down. We’ve got to get better at the details. That’s just where we are as a program. When you come out here on this stage, playing against caliber team, you can’t make mistakes.”
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