Derrick Davis | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta High's Jaheim Bell carries the ball against Colquitt County on Friday at Mack Tharpe Stadium in Moultrie.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Wildcats controlled the game much of the first half on Tom White Field.

It just wasn’t reflected by the scoreboard.

No. 5 Valdosta High (2-2) was unable to capitalize on opportunities it created in the first half, and No. 1 Colquitt County (4-0) blew the game open early in the second half of a 48-13 victory.

The Wildcats simply looked like the hungrier team when the game kicked off, rallying to the ball on defense and running hard offensively.

Running back Ty Leggett took a pass out of the backfield 31 yards on the Packers’ first play, but the ‘Cats rallied to hold their oldest foe to a 55-yard field goal, and proceeded to take command.

Valdosta put together a 14-play drive to move down field, and seemingly, into the end zone. A few possessions later, the Wildcats found themselves in first-and-goal from the Packers’ 2-yard line.

Between those drives, Valdosta forced a pair of Colquitt County punts.

But when the freshman Kaleb Robinson scored on a 32-yard swing pass out of the backfield following the Packers’ third straight punt, the Wildcats only led 6-3. Valdosta had come up empty on its previous two trips into the red zone.

“I thought we had a good game plan on offense and defense to take away what they did best,” said Wildcats head coach Alan Rodemaker. “We at least made them beat us a different way.

“But when you don’t cash in on those things, missed two field goals, missed an extra point, got two touchdowns called back. When you don’t cash in on all of that early, when they start going, all you can think about is what could have been.”

An illegal formation penalty wiped what could have been an early 7-3 lead on Jaheim Bell’s 17-yard touchdown grab off the board, and Valdosta missed the impending 49-yard field goal attempt.

Bell also appeared to push into the end zone after taking a handoff from Rajaez Mosley out of the wildcat formation on fourth-and-goal from inches, but he was ruled short and Colquitt County took over on downs.

When the Wildcats did score, the ensuing extra point was no good, as was a 45-yard field goal attempt as the half expired on a drive that began at Valdosta’s 2-yard line.

In all, VHS left as many as 18 points on the board in the first half, ultimately going into the locker room trailing 17-6.

“I think our offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, and our kids were ready to play,” Rodemaker said. “There’s no doubt in my mind we were ready to play. I just think our kicking game has got to improve. We’ve got to improve our kicking game, because it really cost us a lot of points tonight.”

Colquitt County’s first-half offense was essentially limited to running back Ty Leggett, the Packers’ “other” back behind four-star prospect Daijun Edwards. Leggett was responsible for 161 yards of offense and a touchdown on just eight touches over the first two quarters of play — the rest of the team had 129 yards on 19 plays.

But, smelling blood in the water, the Packers came alive in the third quarter, forcing the Wildcats to go three-and-out on each of their first two possessions of the second half and scoring on one-play drives on each ensuing possession to open up a 31-6 advantage.

Colquitt tacked on a field goal following another Valdosta punt, and after the first of three second-half interceptions of Tate Rodemaker, the Packers pushed the lead to 41-6 with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter.

The Wildcats competed to the end, reaching pay dirt once more on Mosley’s 37-yard touchdown run on the final play of the third, but they were unable to overcome the early missed opportunities, and they fell to the Packers for the sixth straight year.

“If you don’t capitalize, it doesn’t matter how well you execute,” Rodemaker said. “It was just penalties and poor kicking is what it was. A lot of little things.

“But I really think we can have a good football team. I really think we can make some noise if we’ll continue to grow and learn through this out-of-region season… We can really grow from this, or these kids can decide not to, but that’s up to them. I do feel like we can have a good football team.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.