VALDOSTA, Ga. - The No. 19 Valdosta State football team's upset bid of No. 8 Delta State fell short in a 49-25 loss at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium Saturday afternoon.  The Blazers, who dropped to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Gulf South Conference, fell behind late in the second quarter and were unable to recover, as Delta State improved to 6-0 and 4-0 in the GSC. 
 
DSU held a 529-459 lead in total offense for the game, as VSU had 174 yards rushing and 285 through the air.  The Statesmen had just 112 yards through the air for the contest, but rushed 417 on the ground. 
 
Offensively, Blazer junior quarterback Sammy Edwards threw for 285 yards on 27 of 37 with three interceptions, while rushing for 53 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. For Delta State, quarterback Patrick Shegog went eight of 13 passing for 112 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, while he had five carries for nine yards and one rushing score. 
 
Defensively, Blazer graduate student Kyle Cass had two interceptions in the game, as the Blazers collectively forced three total turnovers, but converted just three points off the DSU miscues. Graduate student Nick Jackson finished with a team-high 12 tackles, while redshirt sophomore Jaden Blount had ten tackles. 
 
Valdosta State started with the ball after Delta State deferred by winning the toss. Following two successful third down conversions and a VSU holding call, Edwards hit graduate student B.K. Smith on a 26-yard pass to put the Blazers in the red zone. Junior Eric Watts punched the ball in the end zone from the one to put VSU up on the opening drive, 7-0 with 11:08 left to play in the first. This marked the fifth-straight game this season Valdosta State had scored on its opening drive. 
 
The Statesmen struck right back as graduate student B.K. Smith had a big 25-yard run for a touchdown to tie things up at 7-7 with 9:16 remaining in the quarter. However, the VSU offense responded back swiftly as sophomore Isaiah Flowers muscled his way down the field on a 29-yard run and a 27-yard run back-to-back, setting the Blazers up in the red zone for the second time on the afternoon. Following a DSU offsides call on fourth down, Edwards scrambled into the end zone to put VSU up 14-7 with 4:56 remaining in the quarter. 
 
Delta State went right back down the field on the next drive, going 75 yards on eight plays as Shegog forced the ball in on second and goal to tie the game up once again at 14-14 with 1:52 left in the first. As the second quarter began, Delta State was driving following Valdosta State's first punt of the afternoon. With the Statesmen looking to take their first lead of the day, Shegog threw an interception right into the hands of Kyle Cass. The interception marked Shegogs first INT of the 2023 season, and it was Cass' first pick of the year. 
 
Later in the second quarter, the Valdosta State defense was making the Delta State offense work for every yard it earned until Shegog threw his second interception of the afternoon to Cass once again on the pick.  Following Shegog's interception, Valdosta State marched down the field but was only able to come up with a field goal as VSU went up by three, 17-14 with 4:07 remaining.  
 
With the clock winding down before half time, the Statesmen zipped down the field as Kelvin Smith rushed for a 37-yard touchdown run to give Delta State its first lead of the game, 21-17 with 2:28 remaining in the half. Within the two-minute mark of the second quarter, the Blazer offense was driving down the field. However, Edwards threw his fifth interception on the year as Carl Hopkins returned the ball to the VSU 13-yard line. Shegog then hit Jalen May for six to give Delta State an 11-point lead, 28-17 with 1:12 left to play before halftime. The Blazer offense continued to drive until Edwards was picked off for the second time today at the DSU one-yard line, closing out the second quarter. 
 
Coming out of half time, DSU went right down the field and struck again as Christian Mallory rushed for 19 yards into the end zone, 35-25 with 11:59 left to play in the third quarter. Down 18, the Blazer offense went to work as a Delta State unsportsmanlike conduct penalty put VSU within the Delta State 25. Junior G'Mone Wilson then went untouched to the end zone for 16 yards, followed by a successful two-point conversion that Edwards took himself to bring the Blazers within 10 of the DSU lead, 35-25 with 8:52 left to play in the quarter. The two-point conversion was the first of the season for the Blazers. 
 
Delta State's offense continued to stay hot, marching right back down the field. On a third-and-six at the VSU 22-yard line, the Statesmen's drive was kept alive by a pass interference call which allowed Smith to punch another touchdown in for Delta State, 42-25 with 5:57 left in the third. Delta State scored one more passing touchdown late in the fourth quarter to close out the game at 49-25. 
 
The Blazers are set to hit the road next weekend as they head to Clinton, Miss., to take on the Choctaws of Mississippi College. The game is set for a 3 p.m. ET kick on Oct. 14.  Fans can access links to live stats and streaming at vstateblazers.com.