VALDOSTA, Ga. — The first half of Valdosta High’s season opener against Maynard Jackson looked more like an exhibition game than the team’s actual scrimmage did last week.

In the second half, the Wildcats demonstrated just how dominant they can be en route to a 45-27 victory against the Jaguars on Friday at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

“If we go out there and take care of business in the first quarter, it ain’t a football game,” said Valdosta head coach Alan Rodemaker. “We let them go out there and score and stop us on ‘D,’ turn the ball over, and all of a sudden, what should be a nice win for us, turns into a war.

“Now, in the end, I’m proud of the way our kids finished the game, but we created all of our problems tonight.”

At the end of a sloppy first half, the Wildcats (1-0) found themselves trailing 21-16, primarily due to unforced errors and miscues.

Valdosta turned the ball over three times — two fumbles on its side of the field and an interception in the red zone — creating at least a 10-point swing by leading to a Maynard Jackson (0-1) touchdown and squandering an opportunity to add points of its own.

The Jaguars were also assisted by a pair of 15-yard penalties on the Wildcats on another touchdown drive.

Two short punts and a couple of drops, and the first half turned into a comedy of errors for Valdosta.

“That’s a quality football team, but that should not have been a football game, and it’s our fault that it was,” Rodemaker said. “Between penalties, and turnovers, and not playing defense.”

Maynard Jackson took a 21-10 lead with 10:23 remaining in the first half when the Jaguars recovered a muffed punt at the Wildcats’ 26-yard-line and cashed in on quarterback Charles Daniel’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Marqus Neal.

But from that point on, the tide turned in favor of the black and gold.

Valdosta outscored Maynard Jackson 35-6 over the final 34:23 of the contest; getting it done on both sides of the ball.

Despite racking up nearly 200 yards of offense in the first half, the Jaguars finished with just 285 yards — 81 of which came on Maynard Jackson’s first play from scrimmage. The catalyst to Valdosta’s defensive turnaround can be pinned to the play of Aalah Brown.

A talented receiver that finished with a game-high seven catches for 112 yards and a touchdown, Brown entered the game at safety in the second quarter and helped settle down the Wildcat defense on the backend.

“Coach Rod told me he needed me on defense, and I knew I had to play both ways to help the team out, so I went and made plays,” Brown said. “I’ve been studying my assignments all week, getting ready.

“On offense, (offensive coordinator Joshua Crawford) is telling me to trust the process, because we go over these plays a million times. We get tired of it, but it’s worth it.”

Valdosta held Maynard Jackson to fewer than 100 yards of offense with Brown at safety, and despite his importance to the offense, Rodemaker plans to try to get the most out of the sophomore.

“Aalah’s best weapon is: he’s really smart,” Rodemaker said. “He’s just a really smart player. He knows football.

“So, he’s going to be tired on Friday night, because he’s going to play a little bit of both ways.”

The Wildcats can likely afford to rest Brown for a couple snaps on offense with weapons all over the unit to help compensate. Valdosta racked up 529 yards of total offense — 327 yards through the air and 202 on the ground.

A week after throwing for five scores in a scrimmage against Glynn Academy, Tate Rodemaker completed 17-of-30 passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns. In addition to Brown, Abel Norwood and Devonta Berrian each had more than 80 yards receiving, and Jaheim Bell scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground out of the Wildcat formation to supplement 49 yards through the air.

Running back Rajaez Mosley also recorded his first 100-yard game of the season, finishing the evening with 129 yards on 15 carries.

Although the Wildcats ultimately put together a fine performance in their season opener, Rodemaker knows there will be a bump in the road at some point, and he wants the team to be prepared to overcome it.

“Young people think that, when you play as well as we did last week, especially offensively, they think it’s just going to be like that every time,” Rodemaker said. “It’d be nice if it was, but you’ve got to take care of the fundamentals.

“You’ve got to play every snap, you’ve got to take care of the football, you have to do all the little things, or it’s going to be chaos. For us, it was chaos the whole first half.”

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