Valdosta High School - Sandspur Yearbook (Valdosta, GA)

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Into Action to Win Region Title the regular season in which the Wildcats won nine games and lost only to Thomasville. And the Wildcat name blazed in glory when, after five months of practice every after- noon from 3:00 until dark and com- petition every Friday night, the 'Cats captured the Region 1-AAAA championship. Though they took the anticipated Region 1-AAAA title, the Wildcats failed to reach state competition, for they lost to Warner Robins, in the South Georgia section- als, finishing with an eleven-two season. But though they lived up to the predictions of The Valdosta Daily Times sports writers, they did not live up to the expectations of their fans, their coaches, or themselves. Running back Fred Motes, when asked if the 1982 season was satisfactory, replied, Not really. We didn't win state, but winning the region was good. OPPOSITE PAGEBOTTOM ROW Managers David Mims, David Bragg, Martin Campa; Charles Young, Johnny Horton, Ted West, Chris Major, Derrik Folsom, Keith Sampson, Brad Martin, Brad Lastinger, Edwin Robinson, David Waller, David Parker, Ben Reaves, Burke Holtzclaw, Steve Gandy, Jeff Lee; managers Rich McDonell, Jimmy DeCarlo, Stan Grubb. SECOND ROW: Carl Scott, Pernell Bee, Fred Motes, Aundra Irvin, Demetrius Patterson, Winston Relaford, Cedric Johnson, Kevin Williams, Mark Perry, Darren Armstrong, Coach Nick Hyder, Andy Wiggs, Dana Brinson, Robert Mitchell, Clinton East, Stacy Williams, Randall Reddish, Tim Chapman, Jerry Williams, Ronald Allen, Kelvin Johnson, Bernard Rose. THIRD ROW: Coaches Mike O'Brien, Mark DiBois, Roger Rome, Jerry Baker; Leon Johnson, John Porter, Ty Davenport, Frank Abney, Joe Wetherington, Mike Mink, Clay Powell, John Reaves, Andrew Preston, Ozell Ramsey, John Nitschke, Tony McKinney, Billy Broad foot, Roy Mitchell, Tod Edwards, Greg Sturtevant, Blake Belue, Monte Davis, William Collier; coaches Jack Rudolph, Charles Tarpley, Bob Bolton, Norman Sainz; Dr. Jose Campa; Coach Freddie Waters. TOP ROW: Dion Price, Joe Henry, Bubba Stevenson, Joey Sullivan, Charles Arnold, Victor Wayman, Mickey Hotcaveg, Jeff Spivey, Kennedy Cooper, David Davis, James Robinson, Augusta Hall, Tyler Talley, Horace Beaufort, Dectry Botford, Willie Scott, Ricky Daniels, Jessie Jones, James Wakefield, Charles Robinson OPPOSITE PAGE: All eyes of fans and players follow the pigskin as it sails to Fred Motes. ABOVE: David Parker releases a pass before being tackled by a Lowndes player who barely sidesteps Fred Motes. 9

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Lights! Camera! Wildcats Explode As the stadium lights flashed up on Cleveland Field and cameras focused on the unsoiled jerseys for the first time in 1981, the Wildcats exploded into action that lasted long past the regular football season. And even the sports writers of The Valdosta Daily Times agreed with the Wildcat fans in their prediction of the kind of action the 'Cats had in store for their opponents. According to an article sum- marizing the pre-season predictions of six region newspaper writers, . . the writers have gone back to the 1979 pre-season choice of Valdosta as their pick for the 1981 region champion. Piqued by the prediction of The Times, fans, critics, and scouts continued to follow the seemingly unstoppable action of the 'Cats as the team captured victory after victory. Cameras clicked continuously during

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 Wildcats Go Hollywood Though Wildcats had the fame of stars, and though fans believed their team deserved the recogni- tion achieved in Hollywood, Wildcats and students never reached stardom until Homecoming week. During these few days in October, Student Council members made the school's dreams of fame come to reality by choosing Wildcats Go Hollywood as the Homecoming theme. At eight o'clock of Friday morning. each Wildcat made his debut either as a remake of a star of as an original character. For instance, such memor- able personalities as Darth Vader, Mickey Mouse, and Radar (from M A S H) paraded on the gym floor, along with a not-yet televised cast of Romans who preached the ten commandments for math students. In addition to celebrating Home- coming, students participated in the regular pep rally activities. 10