Adam MacDonald
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Vikings gave their fans a scare, allowing an opening touchdown drive on defense and fumbling the ball away on their first offensive possession, but it didn’t take long for the Lowndes everyone has come to know to show back up.
The Vikings forced a three-and-out on their second defensive possession and only needed two plays to go 95 yards for a touchdown on their second offensive series as they beat the Thomas County Central Yellow Jackets 49-14 in a preseason game on Friday at Martin Stadium.
Troy Braswell carried the ball nine times for 157 yards and a touchdown, Cole Parker completed 5 of 8 passes for 90 yards and three touchdowns and Tyler Hunter caught three passes for 41 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Vikings’ varsity offense tallied 297 yards in its three quarters of work, while the Vikings’ varsity defense held the Yellow Jackets to 171 yards in three quarters and forced three turnovers.
“TCC is a great team, but everything seemed to be clicking on offense for us,” quarterback Cole Parker said. “The run game and the pass game were going for us which made for a great night.”
Cornerback Kenneth Durden added, “The first series we didn’t come through, but after that we played hard, came through and tightened it up.”
The Yellow Jackets came out hot. Quarterback Eric Dodson took the first snap from scrimmage and raced 41 yards deep into Vikings territory. Five plays later, Dodson took a keeper five yards for a touchdown to give TCC the lead.
Nick Burgman scampered for 15 yards on Lowndes’ second play on offense, but he coughed up the ball back to TCC and the Yellow Jackets were back in business in Lowndes territory.
Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson didn’t think the slow start had anything to do with jitters.
“I think Thomas County Central has a good team,” McPherson said. “The quarterback was tough. They’re going to win a lot of games.”
The Vikings settled in on defense and forced a punt after the fumble. The offense responded too, as Braswell took a handoff for 71 yards and Parker connected with Hunter in the corner on the next play for a 15 yard touchdown to tie the game.
The Vikings were off and running.
Parker was at it again on the Vikings next drive, hitting Tiquan Lang on a screen pass. Lang found a gaping hole in the middle of the field and went 29 yards untouched into the end zone to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead. After fumbling the ball on its opening possession, the Vikings offense responded with two touchdown and 136 yards on just five plays.
“It was definitely a tough way to start, but we came out that next drive and pushed hard,” Parker said. “The linemen did a great job and we just fed off the energy of them.”
Much of the rest of the first half was controlled by TCC’s veer offense. The Yellow Jackets ate up the clock with a 16 play drive that only went 44 yards. TCC converted two fourth downs on the drive, but the Vikings eventually forced a punt.
Lowndes didn’t waste much time when it got the ball back. The Vikings only need four plays before Sam Duncan rushed for an 8-yard touchdown to give Lowndes a 21-7 halftime lead.
The Vikings had a chance to add more points before the half, but five penalties, including one that nullified a 37-yard touchdown strike from Parker to Lang, killed the drive.
In the third quarter, the Vikings picked it up on both sides of the ball. TCC fumbled the ball away three times, and Lowndes’ offense scored on two of its four drives. Parker and Hunter hooked up for another touchdown, this time from 12 yards out, and Braswell finally got into the end zone on a five yard dash. A 41-yard run by Braswell on the previous play set up the touchdown.
“Troy is one of our leaders,” McPherson said. “He’s been working hard for his senior year. We expect big things out of him.”
At the end of the third quarter, Lowndes led 35-7. The varsity teams only played the first three quarters.
McPherson said he thought his team accomplished what it set out to do in its only preseason game.
“I’m proud of the effort,” McPherson said. “We have to get back to work.”
Dee Daniels added a touchdown run of 37 yards for the Vikings’ JV squad in the fourth quarter, and Lang also got into the end zone again after a TCC touchdown.
Dodson led TCC’s varsity with 102 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Curtis Brooks carried the ball 16 times for 55 yards.
The Vikings open the season on Friday against South Gwinnett at Martin Stadium.
