VALDOSTA — Friday night, Lowndes and Valdosta battled in a low-scoring Winnersville Classic. Now they’re moving on to their next opponents.
Lowndes won its fourth straight Winnersville Classic on Friday, defeating Valdosta 18-8. The Vikings have now won seven of their last nine games against their rivals.
The victory puts Lowndes (6-1) in sole possession of first place in Region 1-AAAAA at 3-0. The Vikings only need to win two of their final three games — against Colquitt County, Tift County and Warner Robins — to become region champions.
“Our goal is to win the region. We’ve got a good start on that,” Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson said. “We like first place.”
Valdosta, meanwhile, has already clinched a playoff berth — by virtue of its wins over fourth-place teams Warner Robins, Colquitt and Tift — and it is unlikely that the Wildcats will finish any lower than third. Next week, Valdosta hosts Coffee in a game that will likely decide second place. The two teams are currently tied for second at 3-1, two games ahead of the three fourth-place squads.
“We need to win our last two games, starting with Coffee,” Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin said. “If we win out, we’ll finish second. And strange things can still happen that would enable us to win the region. You never know. But right now, we need to worry about winning our last two games.”
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For the first time since 2000, the Lowndes-Valdosta game was a low-scoring, defense-dominated affair.
Lowndes and Valdosta combined for just 26 points Friday, and just 11 in the first 46 minutes. Valdosta’s David Arnold and Lowndes’ Darriet Perry, two of the top running backs in the state, combined for just 40 yards rushing.
The previous four years, Lowndes had scored 26, 28, 28 and 23 points, respectively. This year, they scored 18, but had only 11 until Greg Reid’s game-sealing 53-yard touchdown run with 1:22 left.
Lowndes had 162 yards of total offense Friday, while Valdosta had 198. Those were respectable numbers, but somewhat deceptive. Of Valdosta’s yards, 121 came in the fourth quarter, as the Wildcats went to a passing offense to try to get back in the game. Outside of Reid’s long run, the Vikings gained only 109 yards.
“We’ve got a great defense, and they’ve got a great defense,” McPherson said. “I thought our defense played its best game of the year.”
“Both defenses played out of sight,” Tomberlin said. “I’m real proud of our defense, the way they played. But we’ve got to generate more offense.”
McPherson toned down his offense for most of the second half. The Vikings attempted just one pass in the final two quarters (an incompletion by backup Christian Glisson), and operated solely out of their standard wing-T.
“We were leading 8-0, then 11-0, and I was playing it real conservative,” McPherson admitted. “I thought they’d have a real hard time scoring on us. It was a defensive struggle. We’d planned on running (our Tebow offense) more, until we nearly snapped the ball over Greg (Reid’s) head. Then we stopped. We didn’t need a turnover there.”
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Despite the fierce rivalry, the coaches at Lowndes and Valdosta have a tremendous respect for their rivals’ programs.
“We beat a good football team. They’ve got a good team, without a doubt,” McPherson said. “They’ve got a tremendous defense. They’ve gotten better as the year’s gone on.”
“We’ve got tremendous respect for them. Our kids have been playing their kids since sixth grade. They want to win this game more than any other game on our schedule.”
“They do a fine job,” Tomberlin said. “I’ve known (Lowndes assistants) Randy Hill and Bill Cribb a long time. Lowndes has a real good team.”
Local Sports
Vikings, Wildcats move on after Winnersville game
Lowndes leads region at 3-0, Valdosta is tied for second with Coffee
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