VALDOSTA —
It’s the last week of the regular season, and for several local high school football teams, Friday’s games will be important ones.
Some teams are battling for playoff seeds, while others are just trying to make the playoffs.
Valdosta (6-3, 3-2) can guarantee a third-place finish in Region 1-6A with a win Friday night against Coffee in Douglas.
The Wildcats are currently tied for third with Colquitt County with a 3-2 region record, but they hold the tiebreaker with the Packers, who they beat 38-36 on Oct. 26 at Cleveland Field.
The Valdosta-Coffee game will be very important for the playoff hopes of three different teams, including the two involved. Coffee (5-4, 2-3 in the region) must win the game to have a chance to make the playoffs.
Colquitt County will also be paying attention to the game between the Wildcats and the Trojans. If Valdosta wins, the Packers would be guaranteed the fourth seed in the playoffs. If Coffee wins and Colquitt upsets No. 1 Camden County, the Packers would get the third seed in the playoffs with a 4-2 region record (Valdosta and Coffee would be tied for fourth, and the Trojans would get the fourth seed, knocking the Wildcats out of the playoffs).
Things could get real interesting if Coffee beats Valdosta and Camden beats Colquitt, because then there would be a three-way tie for third in the region. At that point, a tiebreaker would decide which team would be the third seed, which team would be the fourth seed and which team would get left out of the playoffs.
Lowndes, meanwhile, knows where it will finish in the region. The Vikings (9-1, 5-1 in region) lost to Camden County last Friday (24-7), so they will finish second (undefeated Camden is the region champion). Lowndes is off this week.
In Region 1-AA, Cook (7-2) will battle Early County (6-3) on Friday in Blakely. The two teams have matching 3-2 region records and are tied for third in the region. The winner of the game will get third place and the loser will finish fourth.
Clinch County is fighting to make the playoffs, and probably needs a win Friday night to get in. The top 16 public schools in Class A will make it to the public school playoffs. The Panthers (4-5) were No. 16 in last week’s GHSA Power Rankings for Class A public schools, which were released before Clinch defeated Lanier County 3-0. The Panthers’ opponent this week is the No. 17 team, Turner County (5-4). The winner of that game will probably make the playoffs, while the loser will likely miss out. Clinch and Turner will play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Ashburn.
Brooks County wrapped up the Region 1-AA championship on Oct. 26. The Trojans (9-0, 5-0 region) will try to complete an undefeated regular season on Friday, when they travel to Nashville to face Berrien (3-6, 1-4 region).
Like Brooks, Valwood has also already won its region title. The Valiants wrapped up first place with a 48-7 victory over Southwest Georgia Academy last Friday in Damascus. Valwood (10-0) will start the playoffs this Friday, when it hosts Central Fellowship at Goddard Field at 7:30 p.m.
Berrien and Lanier County (2-8) have already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Lanier’s season ended last Friday, while Berrien’s will end this week.
Local Sports
Area football teams battling for playoff spots
- Local Sports
-
-
VSU softball wins South Region, headed to nationals
For the third time in four years, and second in a row, Valdosta State’s softball team will play in the national championship tournament.
The Blazers won their third South Region championship Saturday, beating Alabama-Huntsville 8-3 in game three of the best-of-three series at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park. -
VSU baseball season comes to an end
Delta State scored seven unanswered runs to defeat Valdosta State 7-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at the UT Baseball Field Saturday afternoon.
-
Blazers take 1-0 series lead
Angela O’Connor launched a pinch-hit two-run home run over the left-field fence, tying the game against Alabama-Huntsville in the bottom of the sixth inning, and sparking the Blazers and their fans along the way.
-
Blazer baseball stays alive, beats Stillman
Valdosta State scored five runs in the first inning to defeat Stillman 6-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at UT Baseball Field Friday morning.
-
Lowndes’ Harwell, Wortham sign with Valdosta State
Lowndes’ Ty Harwell and David Wortham won’t have to go far to play college baseball.
-
Blazers host respected rival UAH in Super Regional
One would expect a matchup featuring two of the top softball programs in Division II to come in the national championship game.
Unfortunately for Valdosta State and Alabama-Huntsville, who have combined to appear in four straight national championship games, they won’t be meeting in title game on Memorial Day in Salem, Va. -
Pop Warner Football coming to Valdosta
Pop Warner Football is coming to Valdosta.
The nationally known organization that puts an emphasis on education and developing American youth has been established in the Valdosta area and will begin playing football this August. -
Blazers lose to Delta State, fall to loser’s bracket
If the Valdosta State baseball team is going to win the South Region Tournament, the Blazers going to have to do it from the loser’s bracket.
The Blazers (33-17) dropped their first game of the tournament Thursday, falling to Delta State 4-2 at UT Baseball Stadium.
VSU will face Stillman College, which lost to No. 1 seed and tournament host Tampa Thursday, Friday at 11 a.m. to advance to the weekend portion of the tournament. The loser will be eliminated. -
Lowndes’ Willis, Breit named Region 1 Coaches of the Year
The All-Region 1-AAAAAA soccer teams were announced Wednesday and Lowndes was well represented.
Lowndes coaches Chris Willis (girls) and Jordan Breit (boys) were named the Region Coaches of the Year, after leading the Lowndes teams to region championships and going undefeated in region play. -
Vikings commit 4 errors, fall to Roswell, 5-2
The small things matter in baseball, especially in a winner-take-all game three.
On Wednesday, Lowndes’ baseball team made too many mistakes on the little things. The Vikings committed four errors that led to five Roswell runs and were eliminated in the Class AAAAAA state playoffs with a 5-2 loss to the Hornets. - More Local Sports Headlines
-
