VALDOSTA — Tonight, two Class AAAAA heavyweights stand toe-to-toe in the Dome.

The Lowndes Vikings (12-1), ranked No. 4 in the state, meet No. 7 Camden County (12-1) at 9 p.m. today in the final GHSA state semifinal of the day at the Georgia Dome.

It will be a battle of arguably Class AAAAA’s two best teams in recent times. In the past four years, both Lowndes and Camden have 47 wins, more than anyone else in the classification.

The winner of this game will face the winner of North Gwinnett and Walton (played at 6 p.m. today) next week for the state championship.

“We’re ready,” Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson said. “We’ve got a good gameplan. Hopefully we can make a game of it. Our kids are fired up, and ready for this. It’s going to be a war.

“I’d say they’re the best football team we’ve seen all year.”

In a sense, the Lowndes-Camden game will end an era for Georgia high school football. This is the last year the semifinals will be played in the Dome (next year, the semis will be at one of the high schools, while the finals will be played in the Dome), and these two teams will play in the final Dome semifinal.

Lowndes and Camden will be playing in the Dome, yet ironically, their campuses couldn’t be much further away. They are the two AAAAA schools closest to the Florida line, and the furthest away from the Dome.

Camden won the state championship in 2003, while Lowndes won it all in both 2004 and 2005. Both teams have a lot of respect for the other side.

“They’ve got a good football team. They always do,” McPherson said.

“I think it’s a good rivalry,” Camden County head coach Jeff Herron told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s a friendly rivalry, in some respects. We’ve had a close relationship in the past. It’s a rivalry based on respect.”

This is the fifth time the Vikings have faced the Wildcats since 2002. In 2002, McPherson’s first year at Lowndes, Camden won 20-12 at Martin Stadium. In 2003, the Wildcats won 7-0 during the regular season (Camden’s Lashun Booth recovered a fumble in the end zone for the game’s only score) and 21-14 in the second round of the playoffs, with Camden’s Kevin Patterson scoring on a 1-yard run with 9.3 seconds left to win the game.

In 2004, Lowndes got its revenge, routing Camden 30-0 in the Georgia Dome. That loss was coach Jeff Herron’s worst in eight seasons in Kingsland, and a defeat that remains painful to Camden fans.

“We’re 1-3 against them,” McPherson said. “Looks like we’ve got some catching up to do.”

There is no secret what either team is going to do. Lowndes and Camden are two of the best in the state at running the wing-T offense.

“They run the wing-T, like we do,” McPherson said. “They went to a little more passing, and some shotgun running game. They’ve got great backs and linemen. He runs that offense well.”

Camden’s version of the offense generally uses two wingbacks and a fullback, as opposed to the more traditional wing-T, which uses a wingback, a fullback and a halfback. That offense has worked for the Wildcats for many years, and this year is no different: Camden averages 38 points per game.

But for a change, Camden has thrown the ball a little more this year. Quarterback Major Herron, the coach’s son, has passed for 952 yards and 14 touchdowns. Herron, a college prospect who has also rushed for 542 yards and 14 touchdowns, has spread the ball around. His leading receiver is D.D. Smith, who has 18 catches for 280 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Their quarterback is the man,” McPherson said. “He’s a great player.”

Still, Camden’s bread-and-butter remains its running game. None of the Wildcats’ backs have huge numbers (ballcarriers generally share the load for Camden). Greg Baker leads the team with 654 yards, and has scored 11 touchdowns. Chris White has 452 yards and three touchdowns, while Ronald Flowers owns 339 yards and two touchdowns and A.J. McCray has 304 yards and seven touchdowns.

Camden also plays very tough defense. They were one of the first high school teams in Georgia to use a 3-3 stack defense, and they run it well. They’ve allowed only 65 points all year (in contrast, Camden’s offense scored 66 points in one game, against Savannah Johnson).

“Defensively, it’s the same defense they always run,” McPherson said. “They stunt a little and move around. More speed than we’ve seen all year long. They can fly. They’ve stopped everybody they’ve played.

“They feel just as comfortable in the 3-3 as we do in the 50.”

Lowndes keeps the ball on the ground a lot more in its wing-T. In some of the Vikings’ best games this year, they have thrown the ball fewer than five times.

Darriet Perry continues to lead Lowndes’ running attack. The only player on either side who started that 30-0 game in 2004, Perry has rushed for 1,122 yards and 14 touchdowns. Greg Reid, the Region 1-AAAAA Player of the Year, has gained 697 yards and scored 13 touchdowns, and fullback Adrian Hargett has 503 yards and seven touchdowns.

Defensively, linebackers Tavaris Williams (111 tackles) and Blake Summers (94.5 tackles) are the team’s two leading tacklers. Defensive linemen Desmond Miller and T.J. Manning have five sacks apiece. Reid has picked off a team-high six passes, while Kelly Dawsey owns four interceptions.





Lowndes vs. Camden

When: 9 p.m. today

Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta

TV: GPTV, Mediacom channel 8

Radio: NewsTalk 105.9 FM

Tickets: $15 per day. Seating is general admission.

Parking: Parking is available around the Dome. Price varies, generally $10.

Directions to the Georgia Dome:

Take I-75 north to Atlanta. Exit at Exit 246 (Central Avenue). Turn left on Martin Luther King Dr. Turn right on Northside Drive. The Dome is on your right.

Temperature: always 72 degrees in the Georgia Dome