MANKATO, Minn. — Valdosta State scored on five of its final eight offensive possessions, racking up 498 yards of total offense, and beat the Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks 35-19 in the NCAA Division II national semifinals Saturday.
With the win, the Blazers will face undefeated Winston-Salem
State in the Division II National Championship Game Saturday, Dec. 15, at Braly
Municipal Stadium in Florence, Ala.
I’ll have fresh content throughout the week, especially
Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Florence. For now, here is a recap of
Saturday’s game, by the numbers.
— MSU racked up over 11 minutes of time of possession in the
first quarter, gaining 118 yards on 22 plays. From there, the Mavericks gained
318 yards on 45 plays. Despite less than four minutes of T.O.P in the first
quarter, the Blazers finished the game with 27:54.
— A large chunk of Mankato’s production early in the game
came from quarterback John Wolf, who had rushed for over 100 yards just 18
minutes into the game. From there, Wolf was held to 27 yards for the remainder
of the game.
— VSU running back Cedric O’Neal, who entered the game with
1,055 yards rushing and a team-high 13 touchdowns, finished Saturday’s game
with just three yards on four carries. O’Neal’s lack of productivity allowed
fellow freshman Austin Scott to gain 158 yards on 21 carries, including a
fourth quarter touchdown. Scott is just eight yards shy of 1,000 yards rushing
this season. VSU has never had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season.
— Quarterback Cayden Cochran tossed two touchdown passes
Saturday, moving him into 11th in school-history for touchdown
passes in a single season. He now has 25 touchdown passes this season, despite
missing 1 ½ games due to injury.
— Gerald Ford became the first Valdosta State wide receiver
to eclipse the 1,000-mark since 2007, another season when the Blazers claimed
the national championship. Ford now has 1,018 yards this season, the eighth
most in school-history. He also has 13 touchdowns.
— Seantavious Jones is now 86 yards away from 1,000 yards
receiving this season. With his 122 yards and second quarter touchdown
reception, Jones now has 916 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns this season, the
same amount of receiving TDs as Ford.
— VSU last had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in the same
season in 1994, when Robert Williams hauled in 86 passes for 1,187 yards with
21 touchdowns and Stanley Flanders finished the year with 70 catches for 1,083
yards with 20 touchdowns.
— With their 13 receiving touchdowns, each, Ford and Jones
rank sixth in school history, which is a tie with C.J. Lofton, who caught 13 in
the 2000 season.
— With his second quarter interception Saturday, senior
cornerback Matt Peirce now leads the team with four interceptions this season.
— Speaking of turnovers, Mankato entered Saturday’s game
second in the nation in turnover margin at plus-20. On Saturday, the Blazers
committed zero turnovers and forced Pierce’s interception in the second
quarter.
— After outscoring MSU-Mankato 21-9 in the second half
Saturday, the Blazers have now outscored 85-15 in the second half of their
three playoff games this season.
— Valdosta State and Winston-Salem State have never met.
Kickoff for the national championship game is set for 1 p.m. Eastern from
Florence. The game will be broadcast live on either ESPN or ESPN2.
— Saturday’s game from Mankato will be replayed on ESPNU on
Tuesday. Check local listings for a time.
*I received a lot of feedback and appreciation on Twitter
Saturday. Sorry that Twitter blocked me from tweeting late in the game because
I hit an hourly limit. I’ll make sure to watch my tweet output during
Saturday’s national title game.
Don’t fret, though, fans. I’ll still be tweeting a whole
bunch, just not play-by-play, probably series-by-series and major points. Plus,
the game is on TV.
If you’re not already, follow me on Twitter at @Ed_Hooper.
**More material to come this week. Stay tuned. I will be
traveling to Florence Wednesday, so I won’t have too much to offer that day.
Here is a mini schedule for Florence this week.
Wednesday:
Team departs and arrives at night
Thursday:
Press conference at noon with both head coaches and select
players
Teams practice
Friday:
Community service in Florence
Teams hold walk-through (closed to media)
Saturday
Kickoff at 1 p.m. Eastern in Florence.
