Pat Gallagher | The Valdosta Daily Times Lowndes’ Devante Watts (33) breaks up a pass in the end zone during a scrimmage on Wednesday in Martin Stadium.

VALDOSTA — The Lowndes High football team wrapped up its spring practice with a two-and-a-half hour scrimmage at Martin Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn’t the typical spring game. Instead of four 12 minute quarters, the scrimmage was broken up into 15 sessions, with four different units on the field at the same time.

For example, on the south end of the field, the varsity’s starting offense would play the second team varsity defense, while on the north end two freshmen teams would square off.

In that set up, a lot of the 160 players, from the varsity to the JV all the way to the middle schools, got playing time.

“I like giving every kid a chance to play,” Vikings head coach Randy McPherson said. “We had right at 160 kids dressed out, so I thought it was important to get every kid on the grass and give them a shot. That’s why we used both ends.”

Most eyes in the crowd were on the Vikings’ starting varsity offense. They probably opened a little wider when they saw some of the plays Lowndes was running.

The Vikings have lived and died on the wing-T since McPherson took over in 2002, but there were some exotic looking formations for a typical Lowndes team. Quarterback Josh Clemons took nearly every snap from the shotgun and several times there were three or four wide receiver sets. Clemons slung the ball around plenty to receivers Justin Evans, Tiquan Lang and others.

With Region 1-AAAAA teams like Valdosta and Colquitt County moving to west coast systems and the spread, it might seem like Lowndes is trying to change with the times, but McPherson said the Vikings are still a wing-T team.

“We’re still running the wing-T,” McPherson said. “The wing-T plays out of different formations.”

Clemons had his moments running the offense. One time he broke off a run and gained extra yards with a mean stiff arm that put a defender on his back. Another time he threw behind a receiver and Tyler VanderZanden picked him off.

“Our plans are to use Clemons as a runner and a thrower,” McPherson said.

Eric Blanton manned the varsity’s second team offense which played well against the varsity’s starting defense. The highlight came when the unit scored a touchdown on a halfback pass.

The Vikings are trying to fill several holes on the starting defense, including the entire secondary. Clemons and Tiquan Lang played safety while Devante Watts and Eric Wiseman were the corners. With Clemons moving from linebacker to safety and Chris Scurry graduating, the new linebackers were rising sophomore Tre’ Jackson and rising senior Justin Evans. A few times Jackson delivered some bone crunching hits that showed why he might be the next feared defender at Lowndes.

McPherson came away impressed with the last practice in pads before fall camp.

“There were a lot of kids out there,” McPherson said. “I was watching the young kids and the varsity kids. It’d be hard to single out any one. Obviously we have the film to look at. I was just real pleased with the effort of all of them and how physical they were.”

When the scrimmage ended the touchdown club rewarded the players for a good spring with hot dogs for them and their families.

“I think overall we had a real successful spring,” McPherson said. “We still got a long way to go, but it was a good start.”

The Vikings wake up today and find themselves exactly three months from the first game of the 2011 season. They open on Aug. 19 at South Gwinnett.