VALDOSTA, Ga.- The Valdosta State football team's 2023 campaign came to an end after the No. 14 Blazers dropped a 35-7 decision to No.11-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne in Valdosta Saturday afternoon on a rainy day in Titletown.
 
Valdosta State ended its season with a 12-2 record, while falling to 31-15 all-time in the playoffs and 21-8 in playoff games in Valdosta. Meanwhile, Lenoir Rhyne improved to 13-1 and punched its ticket to the NCAA Playoff Semifinals.
 
The Blazer offense was extremely limited due to the combined efforts of the LR defense and the rainy conditions. Harlon Hill Finalist junior Sammy Edwards finished the game with 143 yards through the air with one touchdown and two interceptions while the Blazer rushing attack was limited to two yards on 18 carries. Defensively, the Blazers were led by graduate student Jacob Harris with a career-high 15 tackles while redshirt freshman Tyler Morehead finished the game with one sack and 11 tackles.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne put together a massive day on the ground a s the Bears combined for 307 rushing yards. The Bears were led by Zayvion Turner-Knox with 145 yards and two touchdowns while D2CCA second team running back Dwayne McGee finished the game with 102 yards. LR quarterback Sean White finished the game with 51 passing yards on 9 of 15 passing and one rushing touchdown.
 
After VSU won the toss and deferred to the second half, the Lenoir-Rhyne offense took the field to start the game. The Blazer defense quickly forced a three-and-out on the opening drive to bring Edwards and the VSU offense on the field. However, the rainy conditions limited the Blazer offense attack as the Lenoir-Rhyne defense responded with a three-and-out of its own.
 
The Bears caught the first break in the contest, taking advantage of a VSU fumble on its own 23-yard line late in the first quarter. Despite this, the Blazer defense held tough in the red zone and a missed field goal by the Bears began the second quarter.
 
The Bears ended up scoring first as Lenoir-Rhyne running back McGee took the ball 43 yards down the field before punching it in from the VSU one-yard line, going up 7-0 with 9:49 left until the half.
 
The Lenoir-Rhyne special teams ended up making another decisive play at the 8:35 mark in the second quarter, blocking a VSU punt on its own 17, to give the offense excellent field position once again. The Bears took advantage as Turner-Knox muscled through the trenches to put Lenoir-Rhyne up 14-0 with 5:52 left in the second quarter.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne came up big again when Bears' defensive lineman Rashad Yelding picked off Edwards' pass, bringing the ball to the VSU four-yard line. White took the ball into the endzone himself to give LR a 21-0 cushion with 4:53 left until the half.
 
The rushing game proved to be vital to the Lenoir-Rhyne defense as Turner-Knox took a touchdown to the house on a major 87-yard touchdown run to plant the Bears up 28-0 with 3:10 left in the half. Valdosta State immediately suffered its fourth turnover of the game on a kickoff return as the Bears gained great field position once again. The Blazer defense clamped down and prevented further damage as the Bears headed into halftime leading 28-0.
 
The Blazers seemingly had no answers for the Lenoir-Rhyne rushing attack in the first half, giving up 206 yards on the ground and just 33 in the air. However, the big difference maker proved to be turnovers as VSU suffered two fumbles and an interception in the first half.
 
Valdosta State answered back immediately in the second half as Edwards began to sling it downfield to junior Noah Gillan and graduate student B.K. Smith. The pair combined for 62 total yards on the drive which set up a six-yard touchdown reception from graduate student Tyler Ajiero, cutting the Bears lead to 21 at 28-7 with 9:19 left in the third quarter.
 
For most of the second half, the Bears milked the clock and controlled the line of scrimmage, holding off the VSU offense. Lenoir-Rhyne ended up scoring one final touchdown in the late minutes of the fourth quarter. 
 
Despite the loss, the Blazers had a great season for a team that was picked fifth in the Gulf South Conference preseason poll.  Last season, in head coach Tremaine Jackson's first campaign, the team went 5-6, while this year he guided the team to a share of its tenth GSC title for the second-most conference titles all-time in GSC history and the most of any current GSC member. 
 
Edwards finished the season with 4,223 yards passing finishing just three yards short of tying the school-record for passing yards in a season set by Lance Funderburk at 4,226 yards in 1996.  Edwards finished the year going 327 of 494 passing for 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.  His 327 passes are good for a tie for sixth all-time in program history with Buster Faulkner in 2022 and his 34 touchdown passes are good for third all-time in a season. 
 
With a large number of players returning for 2024, the Blazers are in good position to continue their success from this season.