By Austin Bruce

VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Vikings (8-1, 3-1 Region 1 6A) used a dominant fourth quarter to pull away and down the Richmond Hill Wildcats (7-2, 2-2 Region 1-6A) 28-7 Friday night.

It was a game dominated by defense as the Vikings found themselves in a low-scoring affair through the first three quarters.

The first quarter was all about field position as Lowndes and Richmond Hill traded punts to open the game. Sophomore quarterback Jayce Johnson helped the Vikings in that regard, pulling off an excellent quick kick that was downed at Richmond Hill’s one-yard line.

That change in field position eventually led to the first points of the game following a quick stop by the Vikings defense. Johnson led the offense down the field and found senior wide receiver Jaylin Carter for a nine-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter.

However, the Wildcats were quick to respond with a touchdown of their own. Running back Caleb Easterling did it himself, getting around the edge and breaking free for a 59-yard touchdown run to knot the game at 7 apiece.

The final minutes of the first half were mired in missed opportunities for the Vikings as a pair of trips deep into Wildcat territory yielded no points.

Penalties proved to be detrimental to those drives, with the first drive ending in a missed field goal after a Johnson touchdown run was called back due to holding. The second drive was equally as disastrous as the Vikings were unable to cash in on an interception return by senior cornerback Ethan Jackson at the end of the half.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Lowndes head coach Adam Carter said of the squandered opportunities. “We get a bad, bad holding call on something that didn’t need to be done. Then, we get another penalty on our quarterback because he didn’t get out the pocket. It was just continuously going backwards and next thing you know, you look up and it’s third-and-28, and we just got a turnover inside the 25. We just got to be better at being opportunistic when opportunities present themselves. We got to capitalize on those if we want to beat good football teams, so moving forward, we’ll have to get that done.”

The third quarter, much like the first quarter, was a scoreless one. Despite possessing the ball for two-thirds of the quarter, the Wildcats were unable to take the lead as their opening drive of the second half stalled out near midfield.

The Vikings used a big play in the passing game to set up a go-ahead touchdown at the top of the fourth quarter via a 40-yard reception by senior wide receiver JaQuan Thomas. That led to senior quarterback Marvis Parrish running it in for a one-yard touchdown as Lowndes went up 14-7.

On the ensuing drive, the Wildcats marched down the field as they looked to tie the game. Easterling came up with multiple key third down conversions for Richmond Hill to help put them in the red zone.

However, the Vikings defense made a huge stand inside the five, stopping the runner inches short of the marker on fourth-and-two as the Wildcats turned it over on downs.

Parrish then gashed the Richmond Hill defense to put the Vikings up by two scores. He quickly put the Vikings in scoring position with a 60-yard dash before scoring his second touchdown of the night from 11 yards out to put Lowndes up 21-7 with three minutes left in the game.

The Wildcats’ last gasp at a comeback was snuffed out by senior defensive back KJ Massey, who picked off quarterback Gunner Mobley’s downfield shot. Parrish proceeded to deliver the dagger to Richmond Hill with his third rushing touchdown, this time on a 46-yard rumble to the end zone.

Carter believed his team understood the task at hand as they took over the fourth quarter and got Parrish going.

“I think some of it was we just kept pounding, and some of the stuff opened up in the fourth,” Carter said. “Our kids didn’t stop, so that’s a positive. … We knew that it going to be tough. We told our kids all week, ‘It’s going to be a four-quarter game. We got to play four quarters. It’s not going to be over at halftime,’ and you saw in that fourth quarter that we had a little extra juice right there.”

With the win, the Vikings have officially locked up a spot in the state playoffs. The Vikings can finish no worse than third in the region.

Still, there’s much more at stake as they remain in the hunt for the region title. Heading into the final week of the regular season, three teams including the Vikings are in play for the region title as Valdosta and Colquitt County are also sitting at 3-1 in region play.

For Carter though, he wants his team to just take things one game at a time as the Winnersville Classic is on deck.

“Our goal right now is to be able to focus on the game and not necessarily who it is,” Carter said. “That’s all going to happen within the community itself, but for us it’s just going in and taking it week by week. It’s no different when we walk out here on Friday night as far as the game part, but to have a chance to go out there and finish. Right now, there’s a chance of a two-way tie, three-way tie, all of this stuff, so we can’t worry about all that stuff. We just got to go out there and find a way to win the game and see what happens.”

UP NEXT

The Vikings will host Valdosta as the crosstown rivals meet for the 2024 edition of the Winnersville Classic on Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.