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Vikings thump Lions, 51-17
VALDOSTA — What a performance turned in by the Lowndes Vikings Friday night at Martin Stadium!
The defending Region 1-AAAAA champions made an emphatic statement to the rest of the state of Georgia with a 51-17 beating of the Peachtree Ridge Lions.
The game was billed as a battle of the best in the state, with each team ranked in the top five in all of the major state polls. When it was over, it was clear that the Vikings had made themselves the team to beat in Class AAAAA.
Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson kept it in perspective, though, saying he didn’t really care what the final score was, and that a win is a win.
Going into the game, McPherson said that, regardless of the outcome, he was going to learn a lot about his team.
“I learned they want to win,” McPherson said. “They played hard, never let up and I’m just proud of the job our assistant coaches did preparing the kids.”
No one player had more to do with the outcome of the game than Lowndes running back/defensive back Tyler Hunter. The junior was a one-man wrecking crew. He accounted for two touchdowns on the first three plays, in the first 32 seconds of the game.
Hunter set the tone by returning the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to put the Vikings up 7-0.
Two plays later, on Peachtree Ridge’s first play from scrimmage, Hunter ripped the ball out of running back Chris Sawdey’s hands and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to put Lowndes up 14-0.
“I really didn’t know it was possible,” Hunter said. “I just made the plays ... I couldn’t believe it. I was just playing the game.”
Hunter wasn’t finished. On the Lions’ next possession, he forced a fumble by knocking the ball out of receiver Brad Roby’s hands. The fumble was recovered by Lowndes’ Michael Copeland and led to a 43-yard field goal by Jed Solomon to put Lowndes up 17-0.
“Tyler is a great player, a good kid and a great athlete,” McPherson said. “He had a good run on the first kickoff and then took the ball from a kid and scored. What a great play.”
Unfortunately for Hunter, he was knocked out of the game on a hard tackle in the second quarter. McPherson said that he just got his bell rung, and Hunter said he’s fine and will play next week.
Lowndes’ defense stomped out any hope of a Peachtree Ridge comeback on the Lions’ third possession. Facing third-and-long, Lions quarterback Nick Lombardo threw an ill-advised pass that was picked off by Lowndes’ Geraldo Orta, who returned it 28 yards for a touchdown. After Orta’s score, the Vikings held a commanding 24-0 lead in the first quarter.
If the first half belonged to Tyler Hunter, then the second half belonged to Khary Franklin.
Franklin only had 18 yards rushing in the first half, but in the second half, he ran for 106 yards and found the end zone three times.
“I just had help from my line. I just ran the ball as hard as I could,” Franklin said. “It was all on my line. It feels great. Feels great.”
After the Lions returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown to get within 14 points, Franklin busted through a gaping hole on the left side of the line on the following possession and ran in for a 37-yard touchdown to put the Vikings up 30-10.
Franklin again made a nifty move to get into the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter. From four yards out, he ran into a dead-end to his left, but cut back inside for the score.
Franklin’s last touchdown came on the longest play from scrimmage of the night. Franklin burst through the middle of the line and outran the Lions’ defenders for a 67-yard score to give the Vikings a 44-10 lead.
Sam Duncan scored the Vikings’ last touchdown of the night, a 42-yard run to make it 51-10.
The Vikings finished with 297 rushing yards on the night, with 246 of those yards coming in the second half.
McPherson said the Lions were using all sorts of stunts, blitzes and movement in the first half, and it took a while to figure out what they were doing. When the Vikings figured it out, they made the Lions pay.
“It was basically a mental thing,” Franklin said. “We made some adjustments, mainly with blocks.”
Telvin Smith and Hunter led the defense with nine tackles, but they weren’t the only ones with good nights on defense. Orta found himself one-on-one with Lions running back Brandon Stanley on the outside several times and continually brought him to the ground. Orta finished with eight tackles, as did Copeland. Chris Scurry had 12 total tackles.
The Vikings will travel to Ware County next Friday to play the Gators.
“We still have eight more games to go, so we’re just going to try and get better every week,” Franklin said. “This game is in the past to us now. We look forward to the future games.”
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