VALDOSTA, Ga. – Playing its first playoff game in the second round, the top-ranked Valdosta State football team posted a 33-17 victory over visiting Miles College on Saturday afternoon at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.
 
With the win, the Blazers improved to 11-0 on the year and will host Virginia Union on Dec. 7 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium in the Super Region Two regional final at a time to be determined.  Check back with vstateblazers.com for updates on the game time.  Miles ended its historic season with a 10-3 record. 
 
VSU, who earned the top-seed in the regional and had the "bye" last weekend showed a little rust early on, but finished with 408 yards, including 230 on the ground and held the Golden Bears to just 83 yards rushing.  The Blazers had 178 yards passing as senior Harlon Hill nominee Sammy Edwards was 14 of 28 passing with no interceptions and one touchdown.  On the ground, graduate student Blake Hester finished with 20 carries for 132 yard and two rushing scores, while graduate student Alfonso Franklin had ten carries for 84 yards and a score.  Hester finished his day with four receptions for 32 yards and a touchdown, giving him three scores for the game.  Defensively, the Blazers made the big plays when they needed them as graduate student Larry Elder finished with ten tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack for 14 yards. 
 
The Golden Bears, who went undefeated in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, won the SIAC Championship game and won the program's first playoff game last week, finished with 307 yards for the game and 224 passing from quarterback Kamron Ivory who was 22 of 41 passing with two touchdowns and an interception.  Miles entered the nation's leader in turnovers gained and turnover margin as VSU had the one turnover on the INT and didn't commit a turnover on offense.  
 
The Blazers moved to 32-15 all-time in the NCAA postseason and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the 12^th time in program history.  Since 2018, VSU now is 10-3 in the postseason.
 
The Blazers held Miles on its opening possession of the game and forced the Golden Bears to punt.  Franklin rattled off a big gain and Hester caught a five-yard pass on 4^th and five for a first down at the Miles 23.  On a 3^rd and 6 from the 18, Edwards hit Hester out of the backfield for an 18-yard touchdown pass and a 6-0 lead with 9:56 to play in the opening quarter as the extra-point was missed.  It marked the first missed extra-point of the season for VSU.
 
The Golden Bears moved down the field as Ivory scrambled and found Jaih Andrews in the end zone, but he was unable to come up with the catch from his knees as Miles settled for a 35-yard field goal from Roderick Smith.  
 
Edwards hit graduate student Rodney Bullard for a 33-yard reception on a 2^nd and 12 and then Franklin scampered for a 34-yard touchdown run and a 13-3 lead with 3:33 remaining in the quarter.   Punts by both teams followed as Miles began the second quarter with a 2^nd and 9 from its own 17.  The Golden Bears converted their third, third down of the game then had a 3^rd and 5 from the 36, when graduate student Larry Elder came up with a huge sack all the way back to the 21 and a punt.  Miles was 9 of 18 on third down for the game, while VSU was 5 of 15. 
 
The Blazer "D" stood tall on a 4^th and 1 from the Miles 45 stuffing Ivory on a keeper for a turnover on downs in plus territory with 7:51 left in the half.  Despite not scoring on the drive, VSU sophomore punter Noah Botsford pinned the Golden Bears at the two with 6:55 to play in the half.  
 
Miles had a decent drive going, getting out of its own end.  The red and black defense came up huge, once again, as graduate student Rance Connor picked off Ivory's pass at the Miles 48 with 1:21 left in the half.  Edwards found graduate student Graeson Malashevich for 13 yards down to the Miles 35 and then hit Bullard for 16 to the Miles 19.  Following a holding penalty on the Blazers, Edwards hit Malashevich for 19 to the ten.  Graduate student Austin McKay hit a 21-yard field goal as time expired in the half for a 16-3 lead.
 
Following punt by both teams to open the second half, VSU took over at its own 13 with 9:12 remaining in the frame.  The Blazers used a steady diet of running plays using almost nine minutes on the clock as the game began to get very chippy.  An unsportsmanlike conduct foul on VSU was called deep in MC territory and then Edwards rushed for two yards on 3^rd and 18 from the 18, but a face mask penalty was called on the Golden Bears for an automatic first down for the Blazers.  Hester scored up the middle for a 23-3 lead with 37 seconds remaining in the frame.  VSU finished with a very uncharacteristic 11 penalties for 105 yards, while Miles was flagged for just five penalties for 38 yards.
 
VSU kicked off, but the Miles return specialists lost the ball in the sun and VSU recovered at the MC 13.  It didn't take long for the Blazers to put points on the board as Hester rushed for 18 yards, after a delay of game penalty, for a 30-3 lead with 16 seconds remaining in the frame.
 
The Golden Bears got their first touchdown of the final stanza on a long drive helped out by a pass interference penalty on the Blazers.  VSU almost was off the field without any damage, but on a 4^th and six Ivory hit Andrews for a touchdown and a 30-10 score with 8:06 to play.  VSU added a field goal for a 33-10 score, but the Golden Bears came right back with some big passes from Ivory, one for 43 yards another for 15 and a 20-yard touchdown pass to Franck Pierre for a 33-17 score with 4:34 to play.
 
Miles attempted an onside kick, but the ball went out of play as VSU milked the clock down to 1:44, before Botsford pinned the Golden Bears at their own nine before the clock expired.  Botsford finished with six punts for a 40.3 average and three inside the 20 with a long of 55.