CARROLLTON, Ga. – The 2019 football season ended on a sour note on Saturday night as the West Georgia Wolves fell 42-14 to the number-one ranked Valdosta State Blazers in the season finale.
West Georgia was plagued with redzone troubles on a chilly night in Carrollton, coming away with zero points in four trips inside the 20, with two of those ending in missed field goals.
Valdosta State's offense was hard to stop as the Blazers put up 519 yards of total offense, including 325 on the ground. The Wolves' offense had 390 yards of total offense and just 16 rushing yards.
The Blazers came out of the gate hot and scored on the first drive of the game with a 30-yard touchdown run from Jamar Thompkins for one of his three on the night. After a West Georgia punt the Blazers scored again, this time by way of a passing touchdown from Rogan Wells to wide receiver Kenny Benjamin, taking the score to 14-0 in the first quarter.
The Wolves would answer, however, as receiver John Hurst cut the Blazers lead to seven after a touchdown pass from Willie Candler, making the score 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.
After being held on third down Valdosta decided to audible out of their field goal formation and go for it on fourth down in Wolves territory, where West Georgia defensive back Latrell Gibbs picked the ball and took it to the house, tying the score at 14-14.
VSU responded though with another touchdown run by Thompkins, his second of the day. Thompson's score gave his team the lead 21-14 which it would remain going into the half.
Kicking off to start the second half, the Wolves successfully converted an onside kick to give themselves the ball back to start the third quarter. West Georgia could not capitalize however, as Omar Cervantes missed his second field goal of the day which left the score at 21-14.
Valdosta State took advantage of the Wolves misfortune as on the ensuing drive Valdosta's Jamar Thompkins scored his third rushing touchdown of the evening, increasing Valdosta's lead to 28-14.
The Blazers would add two more scores and pitch a second half shutout to claim their 25th consecutive victory.
Willie Candler ended the game and his career with 374 yards, with 125 of those yards to Quan Harrison who led the Wolves with seven catches. Seniors Thomas Lester and John Hurst combined for 13 catches with Lester having 91 yards while Hurst had 67 and a score.
Senior Korie Rogers and Chris Blackston led the Wolves defensively with seven tackles each while Cedric Asseh added six.
The Wolves finish the season at 6-5 overall and 4-4 in Gulf South Conference play.
