VALDOSTA — The Valdosta State Blazers are heading to the national semifinals and will face Minnesota State-Mankato next weekend with a trip to the national championship game in Florence, Ala. on the line.
The location of next week's game will be announced by the NCAA on Saturday night.
The Blazers (10-2) scored on five straight offensive possessions in the second half and blew out Carson-Newman Saturday in the national quarterfinals at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. Valdosta State racked up 525 yards of total offense, led by freshman running back Cedric O'Neal's 194 yards and three touchdowns, to earn the victory.
During the win, Valdosta State re-wrote several new records in the school record book. Here are the following:
— Valdosta State's Cedric O'Neal became the first Blazer to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season since Michael Terry ran for 1,107 yards in the Blazers' 2007 national championship winning season. O'Neal has 1,055 yards rushing this season, the seventh-most in a single season at Valdosta State.
— The Blazers have rushed for 34 touchdowns this season, the most in school history.
— With 21 tackles on Saturday, linebacker Chris Pope moved into second on VSU's all-time single game tackles list. He finished just three shy behind the school-record, set in 1995 when Ryan Branch recorded 24 against UTEP.
— Valdosta State's 525 yards of offense is the second-most yards of total offense in a postseason game at Valdosta State.
A full recap of Saturday's game will be available in Sunday's edition of The Valdosta Daily Times. When the location for next week's game against Minnesota State-Mankato is released, it will be posted on Twitter and here.
— Follow me on Twitter at @Ed_Hooper.
