VALDOSTA, Ga. – Having spent the past three weekends at home, the West Alabama football team will travel for the first time since the Sep. 10 game at Miles College when they will visit Valdosta State for a 6 p.m. (Central) night time game in Georgia this Saturday in Gulf South Conference play.

Make sure to tune into SLY 104.9 at 30 minutes before kickoff for the game day coverage with Will Atkinson and Rob Pearson on the call. Click here to listen to SLY 104.9 online. There will also be a live stream that can be found here and live stats that can be found here. Tickets can be purchased here.

UWA (3-2, 1-1 GSC) snapped a two-game losing streak and a six-game home losing skid with a strong 37-14 victory against Shorter last weekend in Livingston. The second half was explosive for the Tigers as they outscored the Hawks 24-7 and rushed for 338 yards and four touchdowns. The defense stifled Shorter all game long with six sacks and held the Hawks to just a 2-18 clip on third down conversions.

Bry Webb, Antonio Brown and Demetrius Battle ran wild against the Shorter defense as the trio almost all ran for 100 yards apiece. Webb broke the game open with a big 80-yard TD run that helped contribute to a 164-yard rushing day and two touchdowns. Brown added a 57-yard TD run that was part of an 84-yard, one touchdown afternoon. Battle moved into the top-10 in program history for rushing touchdowns when he found the end zone for the 21^st time in his career. He also added 84 rushing yards on the day. Battle enters the week just 189 rushing yards away from breaking into the program top-10 mark for rushing yards.

The defense had many stars on the afternoon. Michael Anderson and Trevon Stanford added six tackles apiece, while Davonchae Bryant came away with 2.5 sacks. Jamal Ellis added 1.5 sacks. Four different players had at least one sack on the afternoon. In addition to Bryant and Ellis, Lamar Gray and Michael Sharpley also added sacks.

UWA improved to 11-0 all-time against Shorter with the win and the 338 rushing yards was the most since the 2014 year when the Tigers rushed for 473 yards against Concordia and 340 against Shorter that same season.

Jake Corkren made his first collegiate start at quarterback, completing 11-28 for 80 yards.

Entering the week, Tucker Melton has completed 76-149 for 929 yards and eight touchdowns. John Hilbert caught 20 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Darius Nalls has 18 catches for 161 yards, Caeleb Bass has 14 receptions for 155 yards and Geordan Pollard has 10 catches for 141 yards. All three also have a receiving touchdown.

Webb has rushed for 324 yards on 50 carries and two touchdowns. Battle has added 252 yards on 71 carries and two touchdowns. Brown has the other rushing touchdown this season on 29 carries and 176 yards.

Anderson leads the defense with 38 tackles (31 solo), along with 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Gray has 25 tackles (21 solo), along with four tackles for loss and a sack. Stanford has 23 tackles (20 solo) along with 2.5 tackles for loss and Shamar Lewis has 22 tackles (18 solo), in addition to an interception. Ellis has a team-high four sacks and six tackles for loss, while Bryant leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss.

UWA ranks in the top-50 nationally in several categories including:

• -          5^th in third down conversion percentage on defense (22.6)
• -          49^th in kickoff return yards per game (21.85)
• -          15^th in passing yards allowed per game (143.8)
• -          43^rd in punt return defense yards allowed per game (4.71)
• -          9^th in red zone defense percentage (57.1)
• -          16^th in red zone offense percentage (92.3)
• -          11^th in scoring defense points allowed per game (13)
• -          8^th in team passing efficiency on defense (90.78)
• -          7^th in team sacks per game (4.0)
• -          11^th in team tackles for loss per game (9.2)
• -          17^th in total defense per game (259.8)
• -          48^th in winning percentage (60)

In addition, UWA either leads the GSC or is tied for the conference lead in:

• -          Third down conversion percentage on defense (22.6)
• -          Blocked kicks (3)
• -          Blocked punts (1)
• -          Red zone defense percentage (57.1)
• -          Rushing defense allowed per game (116)
• -          Scoring defense points per game allowed (13)
• -          Team sacks per game (4.0)
• -          Team tackles for loss per game (9.2)

Melton enters the week ranked in the top-50 nationally in:

• -          27^th in completions per game (19)
• -          41^st in passing touchdowns (8)
• -          31^st in passing yards per game (232.2)
• -          49^th in points responsible for per game (12)

Dearrius Nelson, after 122 kickoff return yards on just three attempts against Shorter moved into the top-50 nationally in:

• -          30^th in combined kick return yards (313)
• -          30^th in punt return yards per game (10.2)
• -          35^th in kickoff return yards per game (26.4)

Webb and Gabriel Dunkle are ranked in the top-50 in a couple of categories. Webb is 23^rd in rushing yards per carry (6.48) and Dunkle is 35^th in field goals per game (1.2). Ellis is 34^th in sacks per game (0.80) and Anderson is 16^th in solo tackles per game (6.2).

Entering the week, UWA has tallied 1,799 yards of total offense and 13 touchdowns. The Tigers have thrown for 1,091 yards and eight touchdowns, while rushing for 708 yards and five touchdowns. The defense has allowed 1,299 total yards of offense and eight touchdowns, holding teams to 719 passing yards and four touchdowns and 580 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

Valdosta State enters the week in unfamiliar territory in recent years. The Blazers were knocked out of the top-25 AFCA Poll this week after falling on the road at Delta State (70-31). The Blazers are 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in GSC play having won their conference opener by four (34-30) at Shorter. The two losses this year already matches last year's total with the second loss not coming until the national championship game.

After going 9-0 at home last year, Valdosta State is 1-1 at home this year having defeated Keiser (36-21) and then lost their last home game against Virginia Union (45-40) back on Sep. 10. It was the opposite schedule that UWA played as while the Tigers were home the past three weeks, Valdosta State traveled to Miles College, Shorter and Delta State.

In the game at Delta State, Ivory Durham completed 18-37 for 185 yards and two touchdowns, with B.K. Smith catching four passes for 70 yards and a score. On the ground, Seth McGill rushed 10 times for 79 yards and Travis Tisdale added a rushing touchdown.

Sean Coleman and Jameon Gaskin led the defense with 12 tackles apiece. The Blazers tallied 420 yards of total offense, but allowed 703 yards, including 416 through the air. Patrick Shegog threw for 346 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 65 more yards.

On the season, Durham has completed 100-190 for 1,365 yards and 14 touchdowns. Smith has caught 23 passes for 349 yards and four touchdowns, while Davie Henderson has 13 catches for 207 yards and three touchdowns. McGill has rushed for 407 yards and two touchdowns on 53 carries. Jamar Thompkins adds three rushing scores on 54 carries and 385 yards.

On defense, Gaskin has 39 tackles, with two tackles for loss. Michael Gaydin has 33 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. Valdosta State only has three sacks as a defense, but on the other side of the ball have only allowed one sack.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks so far in GSC play. Delta State is the only undefeated team at 2-0, while West Florida, West Georgia, Valdosta State, West Alabama, Mississippi College and North Greenville are all 1-1. Shorter is 0-2 to start conference play. This past week, Mississippi College picked up a big road win at West Georgia, while West Florida held off North Greenville.

UWA will play four of the final six regular season games now on the road. After this week at Valdosta State, the Tigers will travel to Mississippi to face Delta State on Oct. 15. Homecoming arrives in Livingston on Oct. 22 against North Greenville, before a trip to Florida closes out October on Oct. 29 at West Florida. November starts with the final home game of the season against Mississippi College on Nov. 5 and then the final regular season game will be a rematch with Delta State on Nov. 12 back in Cleveland.

Game 6 Notes
 

•     UWA has won eight straight on the road dating back to the shortened 2020 season in which the Tigers played one neutral site game and won. Then went 5-0 in 2021 and are 2-0 so far this season away from Livingston.
• -          UWA is 5-35 against Valdosta State since 1982, with the Blazers winning the past three meetings
• -          The last win for UWA was in 2017 picking up the 38-14 road victory
• -          Valdosta State has won the past three meetings by a combined 76 points
• -          UWA has gone 2-4 in Valdosta on the road since 2009
• -          The Tigers started strong in last year's meeting scoring the first 14 points of the game. VSU then outscored UWA 42-3 the rest of the way to claim the 42-17 victory
• -          It was a matchup of nationally-ranked teams as Valdosta State entered ranked third and West Alabama was ranked 10^th
• -          Jack McDaniels completed 14-37 for 156 yards and two touchdowns
• -          Demetrius Battle rushed for 103 yards and Tyriq Martin caught seven passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns
• -          Josh Hatcher led the way with nine tackles
• -          Demetrius Battle joined the top-10 club in program history when he recorded a rushing touchdown against Shorter for his 21 career rushing touchdown. His 1,514 career rushing yards puts him just 189 yards away from breaking into the top-10 all-time in program history for rushing yards
• -          The defense was in the backfield all game long against Shorter coming away with season-high six sacks. UWA as a team now has 20 sacks in five games and have recorded at least four sacks in four of the games
• -          UWA ranks seventh in the nation and leads the GSC in team sacks per game (4.0)
• -          Davonchae Bryant came away with a big performance against the Hawks tallying 2.5 sacks and he tipped three passes at the line
• -          Twelve players have at least a half-sack this season, with Jamal Ellis leading the way with four
• -          The ground attack returned to form against the Hawks as UWA tallied 338 team rushing yards which was the most since the 314 against North American last year. The last time the Tigers eclipsed 338 rushing yards was back in 2014 going for 473 yards against Concordia and 340 against Shorter in the same season
• -          UWA has now rushed for at least 100 yards in 13 of the past 16 games and have eclipsed the century mark three times this year
• -          It was the first time since 2018 in which UWA didn't throw for over 100 yards in a game, snapping a streak of 35 straight games. The Tigers finished with 80 passing yards against Shorter, which is the first time UWA has thrown for under 100 since the North Greenville game on Sep. 30, 2018 (88 yards)
• -          With the six sacks against Shorter, UWA now has either an interception or a sack in 14 of the past 16 games. In 10 of those games, UWA collected both a sack and interception.
• -          The UWA defense has limited opponents to under 100 yards rushing in three games and under yards throwing once (Miles College, 89 yards). The Tigers have kept every team under 200 passing yards this season
• -          UWA enters the week 12-13 on red zone chances on offense, while the defense has held teams to 8-14 inside the 20 and just 5-14 on touchdowns