Blazers rolling early toward another Gulf South championship

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Posted 5:15PM on Friday, September 20, 2002

VALDOSTA - After three weeks of the college football season, Valdosta State is well on its way to winning a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. Two big wins over two in-state opponents, and ... oh yeah, the Blazers aren't in the SIAC. But both Albany State and Fort Valley State are in the NCAA Division II's South Region, so it's two wins that could help the regional committee make some postseason choices come November. But what's done the next nine weeks is what really counts toward taking a step in the direction of the Blazers' ultimate goal playing in and winning the Division II national championship game in December in Florence, Ala. ``We want to be No. 1 and we're not going to be satisfied until that time comes,'' said head coach Chris Hatcher, now 24-3 in two-plus years at VSU. Twelve Gulf South Conference teams begin that nine-week trek through the conference minefield beginning this Saturday. Valdosta State's first task is playing Delta State, a program that handed Hatcher two of those three losses. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Saturday at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium. ``We've got nine conference games beginning with two of the most physical teams in the conference,'' Hatcher said. ``We're just going to take them one game at a time.'' Delta State is almost two years removed from its Division II national title. Since then the Statesmen suffered a 70-12 loss to VSU on its home field last season, and their coach left to assist at Division I Middle Tennessee. Last weekend DSU (0-2) had a 28-26 loss at Division I-AA Mississippi Valley State, the Delta Devils' first win over DSU in three tries. The other loss was a 35-7 decision against Northwestern State, the team Georgia plays this week. One of the biggest challenges will be on the road Oct. 19 at Central Arkansas, which came closest to beating VSU during the 2001 regular season. And when the Gulf South rotated two teams on the schedule, it dealt VSU a tougher hand. Gone are Henderson State and Harding; on are Arkansas Tech and Arkansas-Monticello. Tech has consistently been a challenger at the top of the Gulf South, and Arkansas-Monticello came out throwing two weeks ago in an overtlme loss to Division I-AA Southeast Missouri State. ``We know everybody circles our game as a big game,'' Hatcher said. ``That's the way I want it to be. That was my vision when we took over the program. We want to continue at the top of this conference and get everybody's best.'' The Blazers had no game last week, and used it to fine-tune itself with few worries about Delta State. That comes this week. ``We've come out and played with intensity when the lights come on,'' Hatcher said. ``I'm real pleased with our effort during the course of the ballgame.'' But everything wasn't perfect after two weeks. ``We've missed some strength calls on defense. We've got to line up better at times,'' Hatcher said. ``And we've got to keep getting more consistent on offense. When we have a chance for a big play we have to take advantage of it.'' Right now the Blazers are winning with defense and spurts of offense. Fans haven't been used to just 29 points a game in the last two years. But this offense, minus star running back Aaron Jenkins (shoulder), is among the Gulf South leaders in first downs and time of possession. And whether its 28-7 or 56-7, the Blazers have still found a way to win. The SIAC portion of the schedule is over. Let the Gulf South games begin.