GAME NOTES 2017 BLAZER FOOTBALL BLAZER NATION, RISE UP! IT’S IN CLEVELAND! RECORD: 2-3, 2-2 GSC st AFCA RANKING: NR Saturday, October 21 • 3:00 p.m. EST HEAD COACH: Kerwin Bell Alma Mater: Florida Cleveland, Miss. • Parker Field - McCool Stadium 81-43 all-time (11th season) 10-6 at Valdosta State (2nd season) The Valdosta State Blazers picked up a much needed win last week against the Mississippi College Choctaws, and will aim to carry that momentum into another Gulf South Conference Sep. 2 at Albany State L, 12-29 matchup this weekend against the Statesmen of Delta State in Cleveland, Miss. Sep. 9 Fort Valley State # CANCELLED The Blazer offense fired on all cylinders on the big stage during last weekend’s ESPN3 Gulf Sep. 16 NORTH ALABAMA L, 24-30 South Conference Game of the Week. Freshman quarterback Rogan Wells continues to make strides this season and delivered his best career outing in the win over Mississippi College with Sep. 23 at West Florida W, 30-19 one rushing touchdown and three touchdown passes. Valdosta State also established a strong Sep. 30 OFF presence on the ground, rushing for a season high 245 yards. dboth Isaiah Johnson and Cedric Oct. 7 at West Georgia L, 13-42 Hollingshed teamed up to account for 60 and 59 of those rushing yards, respectively. The opposing Statesmen had a scare last weekend in Pensacola, Fla., as the team went into Oct. 14 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE W, 55-3 the fourth quarter trailing 25-14. A clutch rally ensued, however, as DSU scored 14 unanswered Oct. 21 at Delta State 7PM EST points in the fourth quarter to keep their tremendous season rolling with a 6-1 overall record and Oct. 28 FLORIDA TECH 7PM a 4-1 stint against GSC opponnents. Entering Saturday’s contest, the Blazers will have to figure out how to slow down one of the Nov. 4 WEST ALABAMA 3PM league’s top rushers, Chris Robinson. The senior currently ranks third in the conference in rush- Nov. 11 at Shorter 1:30PM ing with 588 yards gained and an average of 84.0 yards per game on the season. Robinson has a knack for finding the endzone, as proven by his league-leading total of nine rushing touchdowns. all times Eastern *GSC Saturday’s matchup marks the 37th all-time between the two rivals, with Delta State holding ^ Okefenokee Classic in Waycross, Ga. the all-time series edge at 20-15-1. DSU has taken seven out of the last ten contests between the # Homecoming two teams, but Valdosta State comes into this weekend’s contest having won two straight. Last season, the Blazers routed the Statesmen in Valdosta, Ga. with a 56-27 win at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. At Parker Field-McCool Stadium, the Statesmen hold a 10-7-1 all-time advantage. RECORD: 6-1, 4-1 GSC AFCA RANKING: 19 • Valdosta State is now in its 36th year of intercollegiate football and owns an overall record of 274 wins, 124 losses and four ties. HEAD COACH: Todd Cooley • Last season’s matchup between the Blazers and the Statesmen was essentially con- Alma Mater: Arkansas Tech trolled by the red and black thanks to a stellar special teams outing and a strong sec- 30-19 at Delta State (5th season) ond half by the Black Swarm. The Blazer offense scored twice early, but after stalling out throughout the rest of the first half, special teams picked up the slack. Donatello SEP. 2 TARLETON STATE W, 34-16 Brown returned a blocked field goal attempt 84 yards for a first quarter touchdown. SEP. 9 CHOWAN W, 42-13 Delta State wrestled back into the game for a 21-21 tie, before Gary Simon returned SEP. 16 WEST GEORGIA W, 17-7 a punt 70 yards for another special teams touchdown. 28 fourth quarter points by the Sep. 23 at Shorter W, 54-20 Blazers sealed the deal and gave Valdosta State their second win in as many years. Sep. 30 at Mississippi College W, 30-17 • Senior linebacker Malik Slater has emerged as the top defender in the Gulf South OCT. 7 WEST ALABAMA L, 26-29 Conference when measured by average tackles per game. Slater is currently averag- Oct. 14 at West Florida W, 28-25 ing 9.4 takedowns per contest, with one of his best performances of the season com- OCT. 21 VALDOSTA STATE 2:00 P.M. ing last weekend at home against the Choctaws. The Tallahassee, Fla. native helped Oct. 28 North Alabama 6:00 p.m. lead the Blazers to victory in that contest with nine tackles and .5 tackles for loss. Nov. 4 North Greenville 1:30 p.m. Four of his nine takedowns were solo tackles. NOV. 11 FLORIDA TECH 2:00 P.M. • Delta State has been an offensive force this season and currently leads the GSC in total yards (1585), touchdowns (18), and total yards per game (226.4). The team also all times Central *GSC leads the league on the defensive side with fewest yards allowed per contest. With Listen live in Valdosta on Talk 92.1 FM just 74.7 yards allowed per game, the Statesmen are the only team in the GSC to have or streaming at www.talk921.com. held opponents to double-digit yardage so far in 2017. Additional coverage links and live stats located at VSU Media Relations • (229) 333-5903 • www.vstateblazers.com www.vstateblazers.com Football Contact: Matt Malone ([email protected]) 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 AND 2010 GULF SOUTH CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS 1 2017 BLAZER FOOTBALL GAME NOTES BLAZER FOOTBALL VS MC... ALL-TIME TEAM HIGHS/LOWS VS. DSU... Year Record Streak Location Score Most Points Scored Fewest Points Scored 1982 0-1 Lost 1 Cleveland, Miss. L, 27-0 2001 70 1982 0 2012 59 1999 6 1983 0-2 Lost 2 Valdosta, Ga. L, 24-16 1994 57 1984 11 1984 0-3 Lost 3 Cleveland, Miss. L, 17-11 2016 56 1990 11 1985 1-3 Won 1 Valdosta, Ga. W, 39-20 2013 55 2000 12 Most Points Allowed Fewest Points Allowed 1986 2-3 Won 2 Cleveland, Miss. W, 31-8 2013 63 2002 0 1987 2-4 Lost 1 Valdosta, Ga. L, 24-21 2014 49 1992 7 1988 2-4-1 Tied 1 Cleveland, Miss. T, 28-28 2004 48 1986 8 2000 45 1993 8 1989 2-5-1 Lost 1 Valdosta, Ga. L, 24-16 2000 45 1999 9 1990 2-6-1 Lost 2 Cleveland, Miss. L, 26-11 Largest Margin of Victory Largest Margin of Defeat 1991 3-6-1 Won 1 Valdosta, Ga. W, 34-27 2001 58 2000 33 1994 47 1982 27 1992 4-6-1 Won 2 Cleveland, Miss. W, 45-7 2002 42 2014 17 1993 5-6-1 Won 3 Cleveland, Miss. W, 33-8 1992 38 1990 15 1994 6-6-1 Won 4 Valdosta, Ga. W, 57-10 2015 34 2000 10 Most Rushing Yards Fewest Rushing Yards 1995 7-6-1 Won 5 Valdosta, Ga. W, 37-19 1985 379 1998 9 1996 7-7-1 Lost 1 Cleveland, Miss. L, 34-28 2015 306 1987 36 1997 7-8-1 Lost 2 Valdosta, Ga. L, 27-23 2011 266 1984 49 1988 226 1983 50 1998 7-9-1 Lost 3 Cleveland, Miss. L, 20-17 2004 222 1982 64 1999 7-10-1 Lost 4 Valdosta, Ga. L, 9-6 Most Rushing Yds Allowed Fewest Rushing Yds Allowed 2000 7-11-1 Lost 5 Valdosta, Ga. L, 45-35 2000 342 2002 4 1982 332 2003 11 2000 7-12-1 Lost 6 Cleveland, Miss. L, 45-12 2000 297 2008 93 2001 8-12-1 Won 1 Cleveland, Miss. W, 70-12 1999 264 2006 101 2002 9-12-1 Won 2 Valdosta, Ga. W, 42-0 1996 232 1992 103 Most Passing Yards Fewest Passing Yards 2003 10-12-1 Won 3 Cleveland, Miss. W, 28-17 2000 477 1984 53 2004 11-12-1 Won 4 Valdosta, Ga. W, 51-48 1994 457 1983 120 2005 12-12-1 Won 5 Cleveland, Miss. W, 24-23 2014 452 1997 136 2012 412 2010 145 2006 12-13-1 Lost 1 Cleveland, Miss. L, 35-28 1995 370 1988 146 2007 12-14-1 Lost 2 Valdosta, Ga. L, 35-31 Most Passing Yds Allowed Fewest Passing Yds Allowed 2008 12-15-1 Lost 3 Valdosta, Ga. L, 27-24 (ot) 2013 520 1989 29 2014 502 1999 85 2009 12-16-1 Lost 4 Cleveland, Miss. L, 31-23 2004 483 1994 96 2010 12-17-1 Lost 5 Valdosta, Ga. L, 27-23 2003 394 1993 103 2011 12-18-1 Lost 6 Cleveland, Miss. L, 36-33 2008 343 2002 104 Most Total Yards Fewest Total Yards 2012 13-18-1 Won 1 Valdosta, Ga. W, 59-41 2012 624 1984 102 2013 13-19-1 Lost 1 Cleveland, Miss. L, 63-55 1985 577 1983 170 2014 13-20-1 Lost 2 Valdosta, Ga. L, 32-49 1994 561 1990 220 2000 545 1999 225 2015 14-20-1 Won 1 Cleveland, Miss. W, 40-34 2014 527 1998 266 2016 15-20-1 Won 2 Valdosta, Ga. W, 56-27 Most Total Yards Allowed Fewest Total Yards Allowed 2004 674 2002 108 VSU Points Per Game: 30.9 (1113 total) 2014 622 1989 241 DSU Points Per Game: 26.0 (937 total) 2013 622 1992 241 in Valdosta: Series Tied 9-9 1982 552 1997 258 2000 521 1994 269 in Cleveland: Delta State leads 10-7-1 2 2004, 2007 AND 2012 NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONS GAME NOTES 2017 BLAZER FOOTBALL ALL-TIME TEAM HIGHS/LOWS VS.