Rosendo Ramirez

TIFTON — There’s an old saying, “Tradition never graduates.”

It is a saying that Valdosta High obviously takes to heart. The Wildcats (1-0) visit Brodie Field tonight for a 7:30 p.m. contest with Tift County (0-1). Valdosta has the most high school football wins than any other program in the United States and surprise, surprise, Blue Devils head coach Ashley Anders believes they will be a force again this year.

“They’re good,” said Anders. “No different than any other year.”

The Wildcats started a bit slow in their opener against Maynard Jackson last Friday — Valdosta trailed 21-10 in the second quarter — but outscored their opponents 35-6 the rest of the way for a 45-27 win. Much of the credit for the turnaround goes to quarterback Tate Rodemaker, who finished 17-of-30 passing for 327 yards and four touchdowns.

Tift fans got a glimpse of Rodemaker in last year’s 20-10 victory at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. Then a sophomore, Rodemaker came on in the second period to relieve starter Jude Ard. Rodemaker completed his first two pass attempts, but was 3-for-7 overall. His rise is no shock to Anders.

“Everybody knew he was going to be a good player,” he said.

“He’s a mature kid,” said Anders, which he credited to being the son of VHS head coach Alan Rodemaker. “A lot of poise in the pocket.”

One of Rodemaker’s touchdown strikes went to Aalah Brown, a receiver who finished with 112 yards for the game. Anders said Brown had great feet and a natural knack for playing. Rajaez Mosley ran for 129 yards and Jaheim Bell had two rushing touchdowns.

Even with Rodemaker’s flashy numbers, Anders said Valdosta was going to try to establish their run game.

Tift will attempt to rebound after an opening game 40-29 road loss to Warner Robins. The Blue Devils trailed 30-20 at intermission. Tift closed to an eight-point gap via a safety and 96-yard touchdown run by Mike Jones, but the Demons tacked on a late field goal to put the contest out of reach.

The Blue Devils were hampered by a leg injury to starting quarterback Patrick Felton and also by its lack of a scrimmage. Tift and Lee County scrimmaged barely five minutes Aug. 10 before thunderstorms brought the proceedings to a halt.

“No question,” said Anders that not having the scrimmage hurt them.

On the injury front, he said Felton is “out indefinitely.” Felton threw for 65 yards and a touchdown (to Jones) and completed 6-of-10 passes before exiting.

In Felton’s absence, junior Weston Clamp and sophomore Mac Turner took their first varsity snaps. Clamp additionally threw for his first varsity touchdown, a 21-yard pass to Jeremiah McKinnon.

And, of course, there was Jones, who scored twice and ran for 171 yards on 24 carries.

Anders said his defense missed some assignments against Warner Robins. They did, however, come up with four takeaways. Antonio Howard led the squad with 11 tackles, an interception and recovered a fumble. Kadarius McDaniel had two sacks and five hurries.

The Blue Devils possibly set two Tift County High (1962-present) team records against Warner Robins. Rosendo Ramirez kicked a 52-yard field goal and Jones had the 96-yard touchdown run. Both appear to be the longest of their respective types of plays dating back to 2005. Game scoring summaries have been assembled for most, but not all prior seasons.

The last time Tift had any play go 96 yards or longer was 2015, a Griffin Collier pass to R.J. Merriweather against Colquitt County.

Tift will next play at Worth County. The Rams have 12 straight losses going into tonight’s home contest against Dooly County.