Remembering 1977: Lowndes’ first win over Valdosta

Published 8:29 pm Monday, December 5, 2005

VALDOSTA — In late October of 1977, there was one story in the pages of the newspaper that had everyone talking.

It wasn’t the results of Elvis Presley’s autopsy or President Jimmy Carter’s trip to Iowa. It wasn’t a mysterious outbreak of a rare medical contagion (Legionnaires’ disease, not anthrax). It wasn’t even Reggie Jackson’s heroics in the previous week’s World Series.

The big news in Winnersville was the stunning final score from Martin Stadium: Lowndes 7, Valdosta 2.

The Vikings had finally settled a football grudge a decade in the making. After nine straight losses to the storied Wildcats, it was time to paint the town crimson and silver. Lowndes had its first win in the series and a local rivalry was on its way to becoming the best-known showdown in Georgia.

“I think the previous year (a 14-3 loss in which Lowndes led late in the game) and that year convinced our people that Valdosta wasn’t invincible,” said former Vikings coach Joe Wilson, who watched his team pull off the upset in his second year at Lowndes. “It put a little doubt in their minds that I think is still there. They don’t go out thinking their automatically going to win before every game now.

“That game probably made the Lowndes program more than any other game before or after, including the state championships.”

As much as anybody, Ronnie Adkins knows the impact that game had. As a junior, the Lowndes linebacker recorded nine tackles in a game with no offensive scoring. More importantly, he threw a key block on Valdosta quarterback Buck Belue to spring Bill Schreffler for an 80-yard interception return and the game’s only touchdown.

“It was a decent block. I just wasn’t sure if Bill was going to score,” said Adkins, now a defensive line coach at Valdosta. “He wasn’t the fastest (defensive back) we had, but Bill had fairly good speed. I just thought Valdosta High had a little more speed from the offensive side, someone that could maybe run him down.”

“As a matter of fact, there were some offensive lineman on that team who were faster than I was,” laughed Schreffler, who now lives in the Atlanta area.

Regardless, Schreffler found the end zone and the Viking defense made it stick, in part thanks to a second pickoff by the 150-pound junior in LHS territory late in the game.

“He was a good kid, a good football player,” Wilson said. “He always studied a lot of film.”

“Much of the excitement (surrounding the game) was the anticipation of getting that first win,” Schreffler said. “We were just coming around and getting competitive. The anticipation was that we would win and win soon. We just did not know when it was going to come.”

Earlier in the week, the question wasn’t who would win, but if the Vikings could field a team for all four quarters. Seven Lowndes players, three of them halfbacks, missed the game with injuries. Valdosta not only had the official winning streak on its side, but the advantage of seeing the Vikings in a spring scrimmage. VHS won that game 30-20 after pulling the first string with a 30-0 lead.

“It was a miracle we even showed up, much less won,” said Wilson.

Still, an overflow crowd estimated at 10,000 people (“There were people sitting in cherry pickers,” recalled Wilson.) poured into Martin Stadium to watch the showdown. As the final seconds ticked down and Valdosta fans silently trudged towards the exits, Viking supporters erupted, pouring over the stadium walls to congratulate the team and each other.

“I’ll remember it the rest of my life not just for my individual accomplishment but for how well we played as a team,” Schreffler said. “And for the fans who had followed us through so many dismal years.”

“It was emotionally draining and physically draining,” Adkins said. “It was the first time we had beaten Valdosta in our school’s history. As a program, it meant a lot to us, because Valdosta is the measuring stick when it comes to the success of a program. We felt like if we could beat Valdosta, we could have a fairly good season and make it to the playoff





s.”

It didn’t work out that way. Still emotionally spent, Lowndes was upset the next week and missed the postseason.

“We played so well that we went up to Crisp County the next week and couldn’t even get on the field with them,” said Wilson dryly.

Still, the ’77 squad holds a special place in his heart.

“We had some great kids who maybe didn’t have all the talent in the world.”

Now a member of the Wildcats’ coaching staff, it is Adkins’ job to try and put the Lowndes genie back in the bottle. Among the players he works with are Carlos and Corey Wright, the sons of his former teammate Wayne Wright. But being on both sides of the rivalry has given Adkins a unique perspective.

“It’s tough now, but I enjoy every bit of it,” he said. “I played over there, I’ve got family that played here and now I have family that’s going through the system over there.

“It makes it emotional.”

It’s been that way every year since the series started. Especially since 1977.