Dave Sundin | Special to the Times-EnterpriseThomas County Central’s Deondre Sullivan carries the ball against Valdosta High on Friday at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

VALDOSTA — A few mistakes gave Thomas County Central some opportunities on the road against Valdosta, but they weren’t enough to overcome a slow start and a struggling offense, leading to a 44-14 defeat at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium Friday night.

The Wildcats, who were coming off a shutout loss against Colquitt County, opened their first series with a moment that shifted everything in their favor early. On the game’s second play, quarterback Jude Ard connected with Jayce Rogers for a 60-yard completion, which ended up being the game’s longest play on both sides. That set Valdosta up at Central’s 30, and six plays later, Rajaez Mosley ran into the end zone for a 10-yard score.

Down 7-0 with 8:47 left in the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets’ offense went three-and out on its first drive. A very short 24-yard punt began the Wildcats’ next chance in Central’s red zone. Despite a Martavous McCray sack, Valdosta found the end zone again with another Mosley score from a yard out.

Central’s offense continued its struggles with its second drive stalling deep in its territory. The Jackets’ second punt of the night was blocked to give Valdosta the ball at the Central 1. One play later, Mosley scored his third touchdown of the night to give the Wildcats a quick 21-0 lead.

Early in the second, Valdosta scored again on a 10-yard touchdown pass to go up 27-0. It was a hole that Central’s offense ultimately couldn’t climb out of. The Yellow Jackets ended the game with six first downs compared to Valdosta’s 15.

“We didn’t start good,” Central coach Bill Shaver said. “We didn’t play well defensively to start with. We gave up a long pass and gave up two (touchdowns). The defense played way, way better in the second half. (Valdosta) didn’t sub, they still had their starters in at the end of the game there on offense. We’re just so worn on offense and we don’t have any game breakers.”

While nothing went right for the Yellow Jackets in the first quarter, the second saw a glimmer of hope, as Valdosta gave the ball away multiple times with three turnovers. Central capitalized on two of them — the first being a muffed punt that the Jackets recovered at the Wildcat 34. After the recovery, Dominic Scott put Central on the board with a five-yard touchdown pass to Dexter Davis, cutting the score to 27-7 with 7:09 left in the second.

The Yellow Jackets recovered a Wildcat fumble just a few plays later, but gave it right back with a fumble of their own. Valdosta scored on the short field to make it 34-7, but Central scored for the second time after recovering another muff with an Imond Hobbs 2-yard run just before halftime.

Valdosta could not get the same kind of offensive production in the second half, being held to 10 points in the last two quarters.

“We played better run defense,” Shaver said. “We covered our man when we had man coverage. A couple of those (earlier) touchdowns, we had a blitz on them but we didn’t cover our man in man coverage, so the guys were wide open.”

Central almost found the end zone near the end of regulation with a 90-yard Tykeem Wallace kickoff return, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. The Yellow Jackets finished with 153 yards of total offense. Kalique Guyton had five carries for 40 yards, while Scott had a 41-yard run. The Yellow Jackets will now shift to region play, which begins next week.

“Everybody’s 0-0 now,” Shaver said. “We’ve got a very tough first opponent with Warner Robins coming in undefeated. We’ve got to find a way to win a couple and get ourselves in the playoffs.”