Playoff Bound! Wildcats hammer Houston, 45-6

WARNER ROBINS �" The Valdosta Wildcats are playoff bound.
Valdosta wrapped up a spot in the Class AAAAA state football playoffs with a 45-6 win over Houston County Friday night at McConnell-Talbert Stadium.
The Wildcats jumped on Houston quickly, scoring 32 points in the first half. At halftime, the score was 32-0, and the outcome was all but decided.
With the win, Valdosta (7-3, 3-3 region) earned the fourth seed from Region 1-AAAAA. The Wildcats will travel to Newnan (10-0) next week for the first round of the state playoffs.
“I'm real proud of this team,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “We're looking forward to (the playoffs). We're real excited. I'm excited for our players, our coaches and our fans.”
For the second week in a row, senior quarterback Chad Prain was the Wildcats' offensive leader. Prain completed 9-of-13 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 75 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.
“He looked real good. I'm real proud of Chad,” Tomberlin said.
After forcing a punt on the game's opening possession, Valdosta took over at midfield, and drove 50 yards for the game's first score.
The drive didn't start well, as Valdosta was called for a holding penalty that gave it first-and-26 on its own 34. But Prain completed back-to-back passes to Dontavis Sapp, then ran for a first down. Later in the drive, Prain's 19-yard run moved the ball to the Houston 10. Three plays later, on third-and-goal from the 2, Phillip Moore took the handoff, and dove over the goal line for the touchdown. Zach Wang's extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
A few minutes into the second quarter, the Wildcats drove 71 yards in eight plays for their second touchdown. Prain's 17-yard pass to Sapp moved Valdosta into Houston territory. Then on fourth-and-5 from the Bears' 37, Prain found Jay Rome over the middle, and Valdosta's standout tight end took the ball all the way down to the 2, carrying a couple of defenders with him along the way. On the next play, Prain took the snap from the shotgun, went left and trotted into the end zone to give the Wildcats a 14-0 lead.
Valdosta's defense forced a punt, then scored on the ensuing drive. Rome ran 11 yards on a reverse on the first play, then caught a 19-yard pass from Prain, down to the Bears' 6. Then Prain took the snap, went up the middle and ran through two defenders at the goal line for the touchdown, making it 20-0.
After another three-and-out, Houston punted again. Malcolm Mitchell caught the ball at his own 35, and saw a hole open up in front of him. Mitchell raced through the hole, turned on his blazing speed and sprinted 65 yards untouched for a touchdown, making it 26-0.
Valdosta added another touchdown in the final minute of the first half. Prain ran the two-minute offense almost flawlessly, completing three consecutive passes that moved the Wildcats down to the 10. Two plays later, Prain took the snap, looked for a receiver, scrambled away from pressure, then found Dhahrod Hall wide open in the end zone for the touchdown. The extra point was blocked, but the Wildcats led 32-0 at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, Prain and the first-team offense staged one final scoring drive. The Wildcats ran the ball on eight straight plays, and drove 73 yards for a touchdown. The biggest plays were a 22-yard run by Moore and a 15-yard run by Hall. On first-and-goal from the 2, Moore ran the ball into the end zone to make it 38-0.
Houston fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, and Valdosta recovered. Tomberlin put his reserves in, and they drove 34 yards for the team's final score. Charlie Albritton ran for 26 of those yards, and finished off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. That gave the Wildcats a commanding 45-0 lead with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.
Because Valdosta had a big lead, the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.
With Valdosta's backups in, Houston got on the board with a 66-yard drive early in the fourth quarter. Travis Hutner's 23-yard run on a trap play made it 45-6.
Sapp had six catches for 69 yards for Valdosta. Rome caught two passes for 54 yards.
Valdosta's defense held Robert Williams, the region's leading rusher, to 50 yards on 10 carries.