We begin the home stretch of our 40 Games That Shaped 40 Years series featured on uwgathletics.com with the seventh edition. In 1997, West Georgia claimed their first Gulf South Conference Championship and repeated in 1998. Follow along as we remember some of the top games from the late 90s.

Previous installments of 40 Games that Shaped 40 Years are linked below.

First Edition: 1981-82

Second Edition: 1983-86

Third Edition: 1988-1992

Fourth Edition: 1993-1994

Fifth Edition: 1995-1996

Sixth Edition: 1997-1999

The games are being released in chronological order, and there will be a fan vote at the conclusion of the series to determine the top-10 games in UWG football history. Enjoy this trip down memory lane with us as we gear up the 40th season of NCAA football at UWG this fall.

Season Tickets are still available for the 2021 season. To purchase tickets, visit the Townsend Center Box Office, or visit their website here.

Seventh Edition: Into the New Millenium

West Georgia at Valdosta State, November 15, 1999

West Georgia 23, Valdosta State 16

With no titles or playoff berths on the line, some teams would have been looking ahead to the offseason.

But when the final game of the season is Valdosta State, you’d better believe the bitter rivals are going to come at each other with everything they’ve got.

And that was just how this contest would play out before West Georgia prevailed in the nail-biter at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium for a fifth consecutive victory in the head-to-head series.

After West Georgia built a 10-0 lead by halftime, the Blazers scored 16 unanswered points in the second half, capped by a 51-yard touchdown pass with 8:43 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Now trailing by six, the visitors responded immediately with Jarvis Tarplin racing 40 yards down the field  on a swing pass to the VSU 2-yard line. From there, he ran the ball in to knot the game up at 16-all with 7:07 remaining. Benji Shelton’s PAT put West Georgia ahead for good at 17-16.

But the Blazers still had a good bit of time remaining.

After stopping West Georgia on downs on its next possession, VSU was able to move the ball to midfield and threaten to win it in the closing seconds. That all ended when Blazer quarterback Lewis Grier was picked off by UWG’s Travis Williams, who took the ball to the house untouched as the final horn sounded to put the finishing touches on the 23-16 triumph.

The victory gave UWG eight wins on the season, marking the fifth straight year the program won at least eight games.

West Georgia vs. Southern Arkansas: September 7, 2000

West Georgia 38, Southern Arkansas 28 

Fueled by a historic rushing performance from tailback Nick Price, West Georgia rallied for the 10-point home win in a back-and-forth barnburner against the Muleriders.

Price established the single-game school rushing record with 235 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries, getting plenty of assistance from a dominant performance up front by the UWG offensive line.

The upset-minded visitors from Magnolia raced out to a 21-7 first-half lead behind a potent rushing attack of their own before West Georgia countered with back-to-back touchdowns heading into the locker room for the 21-21 tally.

Price continued to pile on the yards in the second half, setting up the UWG offense for 17 second-half points, including a 10-0 shutout in the fourth quarter to seal the victory and a 6-0 start to the 2000 campaign, which would be head coach Glenn Spencer’s final season at the helm of the program.

After leading West Georgia to another GSC crown in 2000, Spencer began a successful run as a Division I coach with stops at Georgia Tech, Duke, Oklahoma State, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic before landing his current position as the defensive coordinator at the University of South Florida.

Price, who went on to earn All-American and First-Team All-GSC honors in 2000, finished the season with 1,409 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 211 carries.

West Georgia vs. North Alabama: November 13, 2001

West Georgia 49, Valdosta State 0

There were several milestone moments from the one-sided affair over the Lions on this November day.

Along with securing at least eight wins for the seventh consecutive season, the victory also marked the fourth in a row over the Lions, and the 49-point differential served as the largest in a shutout over a Gulf South Conference opponent in school history.

Individually, West Georgia All-American safety Nate Coggins broke Neal Gooch’s 13-year-old school-record for career tackles with 399. Coggins posted 13 tackles on the night, earning GSC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his efforts.

On the other side of the ball, it was a coming-out party for running back Sheldon Hogan. Serving as the featured back in the 2001 home finale due to injury, Hogan rushed for a game-high 160 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries and also hauled in a 38-yard touchdown pass, for good measure.

West Georgia vs. Presbyterian: September 7, 2002

West Georgia 37, Presbyterian 35

With its third different head coach in three years, West Georgia opened the 2002 campaign and Mike Ledford era in nail-biting fashion by securing the two-point thriller over the Blue Hose.

With two-time All-American Nick Price no longer in the West Georgia backfield following his tremendous career that ended following the 2001 season, the ground game was still a work-in-progress early in 2002, as Presbyterian held West Georgia to 45 yards on 45 carries in the contest.

Turnovers were costly to both teams in this one, as the Blue Hose coughed the ball up four times and threw three interceptions, while West Georgia had seven fumbles overall, losing four of them. Another point of frustration, West Georgia was whistled for 14 penalties, totaling 137 yards.

But the quarterback tandem of Corry Strange and Lucas McMichen gave West Georgia a spark offensively, combining to go 19-of-36 for 198 yards and three touchdowns with Detronn Harris hauling in five receptions for 101 yards.

The West Georgia defense also accounted for a pair of scores, using a Forrest Jackson safety and a 22-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Daetwan Wells.

West Georgia built a 23-14 lead at halftime, but the Blue Hose outscored the host squad 21-7 through the first 19 minutes of the second half to take a 35-30 lead early in the fourth quarter.

West Georgia countered the back-to-back scores from the Blue Hose with a 22-yard touchdown run from Patrick Prince with 9:34 remaining in the game and freshman defensive end Carlos Bates picked off a PC pass in the closing seconds to seal the deal.