VALDOSTA –– Lowndes County announced their 2019 football schedule on Friday. 

The Vikings will play a 12-game gauntlet that features state champions from two states. 

They open the season on Aug. 16 with a pre-season test against the Bainbridge Bearcats, who outlasted Warner Robins in a triple-overtime thriller to become Georgia High School Association 5A champions. 

That opens a three game home stand against Drew, Chamblee and Parkview over the following three weeks. Then the Vikings travel to East Coweta before hosting the Miami Northwestern Bulls on Sept. 20. 

The Bulls are the reigning Florida 6A state champions after putting together a 10-5 season an averaging 25.4 points per game while playing schools like No. 1 ranked IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. 

Miami Northwestern is replacing Lincoln from Tallahassee, Florida who had scheduling issues and could not return during the second year of the two year scheduling cycle. 

The ensuing week they host Valdosta for the annual Winnersville Classic on Sept. 27. Last year’s game resulted in a 36 point win for the Vikings where they racked up 774 yards on offense. 

After Winnersville, the Vikings will travel to Waycross to face Ware County in the last non-region matchup of the season. 

The Vikings close out the season on the road at Tift County on Oct. 18  and Camden on Oct. 25 before ending the regular season against Colquitt on Nov. 1 at home. 

Colquitt was the runner-up in the GHSA 7A football state championship and lost to the team that eliminated Lowndes from the postseason, Milton. 

The Vikings played a near-identical regular season schedule last year and went 7-3 with losses against Parkview, Tift and Colquitt.