VALDOSTA —  Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson is eager to see how his team looks in a game that counts.

Tonight, he will find out how his Vikings look when they host the Luella Lions at Martin Stadium in the season opener for both teams.

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m., and the Vikings are excited about the chance to compete against someone else.

“We are ready to see what we’ll look like in a game,” linebacker Tre’ Jackson said. “Everything is looking bright, and hopefully we can look good for everybody.”

Tonight’s game is the first meeting between the two teams since the first round of the state playoffs in 2008. Lowndes won the game, 41-13.

The Lions have changed a lot since the ’08 meeting at the Concrete Palace. Nic Vasilcheck took over as the Lions’ head coach in 2010 and has implemented a spread offense similar to Lowndes’, a two-back shotgun set that mixes the run and pass. This season, the Lions will be a primarily run-based offense.  

“They can run,” Jackson said. “They are a hard-nosed team. We are going to have to come out and put the pads on them real quick. We are going to have to keep hitting them throughout the game. I mean, nobody can out hit Lowndes. We just have to show them that early.”

The Lions are young, especially on offense. They return just three starters from last year’s team that finished 4-6. Among those returning is quarterback Jared Hendricks, a duel-threat quarterback. Hendricks, a Region 2-AAAAA Honorable Mention last season, threw for 976 yards with 10 touchdowns and rushed for 376 with two more scores.

While the Lions are fast, so are the Vikings. In the front seven, Jackson anchors the linebackers corps, which is without Josh Harvey-Clemons this season. Senior Tiquan Lang, a preseason All-State selection, anchors the secondary. Eric Hart will start opposite of Lang at safety, while Brandon Roberts and Kenny Moore, a transplant from the Vikings’ basketball team, will start at the corners.

Defensively, the Lions are young after losing five starters, including two Division I signees from the secondary. They will line up in various defensive formations, including the 4-3 and the 3-4.

Despite the loss of college talent, McPherson said he thought the Lions were still impressive on the defensive side of the ball.

“They have a lot of speed,” McPherson said. “They have a bunch of college prospects. I mean, they look good.”

For Lowndes, quarterbacks Alex Stephenson and Seth Carlo will continue to split time, rotating on a series-by-series basis.

In the preseason scrimmage against Thomasville two weeks ago, Carlo completed 3 of 6 passes for 95 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown pass to Nick Burgman. He was also intercepted once. Stephenson, the transfer from Valdosta, finished 0 for 1 and was sacked twice.

“(Luella) runs a little bit of everything,” Stephenson said. “They are going to be flying around the ball. They have a bunch of seniors on that side of the ball, so we are going to have to be very careful.

“I am just going to go out and do the best that I can and hope for the best,” Stephenson continued.

Tonight’s season opener for the Vikings is two weeks after the 52-0 preseason win over Thomasville. Since the scrimmage win, Lowndes has practiced seven times in pads, including three times this week.

“We’ve had a really good week of practice,” McPherson said. “That is what I expect from this group.”

Tonight’s game is the first of four non-region games for the Lowndes, who begins region play Sept. 28 at Colquitt County. With a loaded region, a lot of the talk throughout the preseason has surrounded Camden County, Colquitt County and Valdosta. The Vikings are looking to make a statement early in the season and prove they aren’t going anywhere.

“It is a good thing and it is a bad thing,” Jackson said. “It is a good thing for us, because we can show them that we are not going anywhere. The Lowndes Vikings are always going to be here. That is the way it is going to be. We are just going to have to come out and show that we can’t be overlooked.”

Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on 99.5 FM.