VALDOSTA — Lowndes goalkeeper Ian Lamp walked out of the team dugout and collapsed to his back in a mixture of exhaustion, relief and elation.

A teammate came over and asked, “Are you good?”

“I’m not just good, I’m great,” Lamp responded.

In a match that saw tempers flare and was scoreless at the half, a Chris Snellgrove penalty kick in the 64th minute was the requirement to lift the Vikings to a 1-0 win against the Tift County Blue Devils on Friday night at Lowndes’ new soccer pitch.

“We knew at halftime that there was not going to be any letdown,” said Vikings coach Jordan Breit, as his team evened its record at 4-4. “We had to match their intensity and then exceed it.”

Lowndes’ Trey Davis was fouled in the right corner of the penalty box, drawing a whistle from an official. Snellgrove put the chance into the net and was immediately involved in an altercation with the Blue Devils’ goalkeeper. Both were sent off with red cards and the remaining 15 minutes were played 10 vs. 10.

“It was intense,” Breit said. “Things got a little bit heated. We finished 10 vs. 10 in a region match; that’s a tough thing to do for any team. We had to make some adjustments there.”

Lamp withstood scoring threat after scoring threat from Tift in the waning minutes, but was able to withstand the attacks and preserve the Vikings’ region-opening victory.

“I’ve about lost my voice,” Lamp said while on the turf. “I’ve been yelling all game.”

Tift girls 5

Lowndes 1

The Lowndes Vikettes got on the scoreboard first, but Tift quickly equalized and added three second-half goals to hand Lowndes a 5-1 loss in the night’s opening match.

Kaitlyn Raulerson scored the Vikettes’ lone goal in the 24th minute. She received the ball on a pass from the right side, found some space in the middle and fired a shot toward the left goalpost that careened off the side post and in.

“We struck first, we looked good, we had the momentum and then we just kind of deflated,” Lowndes coach Jake Chitty said.

Lowndes (2-6, 1-0 Region 1-7A) couldn’t maintain its lead for long, however, as the Blue Devils responded with a goal of their own with 15 minutes left in the half.

Tift played a ball into the penalty area and scored the go-ahead goal two minutes later, making it 2-1.

The Blue Devils threatened to score for the first time of the second half with 23 minutes left, but the shot was pulled high.

Sarah Pearson and Madison Miller each had shots on-goal with 13 minutes left. Pearson’s glanced off the crossbar and Miller’s was collected by the goalkeeper.

The Blue Devils scored three goals inside the final 12 minutes to preserve their win.

UP NEXT

Lowndes hosts Colquitt County for another region doubleheader Tuesday, beginning at 5:30 p.m.