KINGSLAND – In their final region matchup before the state playoffs, the Lowndes Vikings (5-5, 1-3 Region 1-7A) gave up timely, explosive plays in a 48-21 blowout loss to the Camden County Wildcats (7-3, 2-1 Region) Friday night.

The Wildcats got the better of the Vikings with their wing-T attack and capitalized on Viking miscues with quick-striking, efficient offense.

“There were multiple (challenges). I thought they attacked off tackle with certain guys in certain ways and we tried to make adjustments there,” Lowndes head coach Zach Grage said. “Hats off to them. Their execution was able to go with it and we’ve got to make adjustments quicker, I guess, and try to put guys in better situations to be successful. That’s always how it is. Players win, coaches lose so that’s on us.”

THE TURNING POINT

With the game tied at 7, the Vikings got the ball down inside the red zone but sophomore quarterback Marvis Parrish couldn’t connect with wide out Jaylin Carter in the end zone on third-and-5 from the Camden 16 – forcing head coach Zach Grage to send out Aiden Andrews for a 33-yard field goal.

Andrews missed the kick, and on Camden’s first play, Deonte’ Cole found an opening toward his own sideline and rolled 80 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-7 with 5:01 to go in the second quarter.

On Lowndes’ next possession, a false start backed the Vikings up second-and-15 from their own 7 before Jacarre Fleming broke a 15-yard run for a first down. Parrish misfired on a pass to Fleming, then had what appeared to be a completion to Kevis Thomas wiped away and a flag thrown for an ineligible receiver downfield to bring up second-and-15 from the 17.

Following a 2-yard gain by Aalim Brown, Parrish looked to throw again on third-and-13, but had his pass picked off by Camden’s Shamarion Gibbs with 3:37 to go before halftime.

Two plays later, Mason Robinson ran a play fake to perfection and found Quan Floyd wide open for a 27-yard touchdown to make it 20-7 with 2:39 left in the second quarter.

Receiving the ball first out of the halftime break, the Wildcats pushed their lead to 20 just over 3 minutes into the third quarter as Jaden Dailey walked into the end zone on a 12-yard score to go ahead 27-7.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT

Down by 20, the Vikings responded with a purposeful drive as Parrish hit Ronnie Davis for 14 yards then Carter for a big 35-yard strike for a first down. Three plays later, Parrish broke free up the middle and beat a couple of Camden defenders for a 15-yard touchdown run to make it 27-14.

But the Wildcats never wavered as they answered with a 7-play, 55-yard drive capped by a 39-yard dart from Robinson to Ja’Marley Riddle to push the lead to 34-14 with 3:25 left in the third quarter.

Riddle added a 46-yard run just 44 seconds into the fourth quarter, then off of a Lowndes turnover on downs, the Wildcats looked to Cole – the man that broke the tie in the second quarter.

Cole capped a 5-play, 71-yard drive with a 52-yard sprint to the end zone for the Wildcats’ final score of the night.

The Wildcats finished with 500 yards of total offense on just 45 plays – an astounding 11.1 yards per play Friday night.

Cole led the charge with 11 carries for 164 yards and two touchdowns as Camden rushed for 422 yards in the game.

Quarterback Mason Robinson completed 3 of 5 passes for 78 yards with two touchdowns.

The Vikings put up 372 total yards with 131 coming on the ground.

Parrish went 11 of 28 for 241 yards with one touchdown and one interception through the air and carried the ball 19 times for 51 yards and two touchdowns.

Fleming had 10 carries for 53 yards and Aalim Brown had seven carries for 27 yards.

Keylan Hicks and Kevis Thomas combined for six catches for 141 yards and a touchdown in the loss.

Though the Vikings responded with a tidy scoring drive that saw Parrish hit Fleming for 41 yards before making three straight runs to score in the red zone, Grage was in no mood for moral victories considering the offense stalled in some key moments throughout.

“That’s big. The kids’ effort was great, but no moral victories in an opportunity like that,” Grage said. “I still look at…we go down and score the first quarter and it’s 7-7 and we had an opportunity down in the red zone and missed a field goal which, again, that’s us. The next play there was an 80-yard touchdown run and I think that really turned the tides and then coming out of halftime, we go back down and score on our first series on offense but we never could get back within that 14-point range.

“So we’ve got to go back and hopefully get excited about the new season and get on the road to Atlanta and give our kids the best shot. We’ll let this one hurt for 24 hours, then get back to work on Sunday.”

The Vikings travel to Carrollton to face the Region 2-7A Carrollton Trojans (10-0, 4-0) in the first round of the state playoffs Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m.