VALDOSTA — In their quest for their sixth consecutive win over their crosstown rivals, the Lowndes Vikings (3-3) were denied in a defensive battle – losing to the Valdosta Wildcats (7-0) 13-6 Friday night.

In the first meeting between the rival schools as ranked region opponents in 12 years, Friday’s contest was a fine addition to the collection of games in one of America’s most famous football rivalries.

Lowndes ran the ball 37 times for 122 yards, and Valdosta ran it 33 times for 164. These numbers certainly aren’t eye popping, and they’re even less so once you figure out the few chunk plays that made up the majority of these yards.

Half of Valdosta’s rushing yards came from one play in which senior running back Ahmad Denson took it 80 yards to the house in the first quarter on what would be the final touchdown scored by either team Friday night. The only other one came on a 19-yard run from sophomore quarterback Todd Robinson.

Junior running back Jacarre Fleming was responsible for more than half of Lowndes’ rushing yards, finishing the night with 74 yards on 16 attempts. Most of these yards came when he ran for 19 and 38 yards on back-to-back plays in the first quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Marvis Parrish contributed 54 yards in one go in the third quarter, finishing the night with 47 yards on 16 attempts.

To give the offenses credit, both defenses made a phenomenal showing. What was thought to be the best defense Lowndes has faced so far turned out to be true.

Valdosta finished the night with 14 tackles for loss, one sack and one interception. Play after play, a different Valdosta player was behind the line of scrimmage stopping any attempt at progress from the Lowndes offense.

Six different Valdosta players recorded a tackle for loss, led by two in particular: junior defensive end Eric Brantley and defensive tackle Omar White.

Brantley finished with eight tackles and five tackles for loss, while White finished with five tackles, a sack and four tackles for loss.

The Lowndes defense also came to play, and while only recording four tackles for loss, no sacks and one interception, those stats don’t tell the whole story.

In the first half, Lowndes had trouble stopping Valdosta on third down, they were 3 of 4 and the only time the Wildcats didn’t convert was when the Vikings forced a fumble.

But coming out of halftime, the Vikings flipped a switch and completely halted the Valdosta offense.

The Lowndes defense forced two three-and-outs to start the second half and after allowing a Valdosta first down, they came up with two straight tackles for loss to get the ball back.

This persisted for the entire second half, but not only for Lowndes. From the beginning, Valdosta stifled Lowndes’ run game aside from chunk plays as the Wildcats’ 14 tackles for loss would attest.

Neither team had much success through the air either. Robinson finished 8 of 16 for 90 yards and an interception, while Parrish finished 6 of 16 for 52 yards and an interception. Backup quarterback Tayt Snellgrove finished 2 of 3 for 27 yards in his short time on the field.

The poor passing numbers are more indicative of the stellar defensive play than anything, as neither QB had more than a second or two at the most to make a decision before being swarmed by the entire defensive line – making it very difficult for either team to really move the ball when it needed to, and Lowndes found themselves running it in long yardage situations such as third-and-32 in the fourth.

Each team snagged an interception as well, but it wasn’t senior corner back Tim Roberson pulling one down this time. Instead, it was junior Jaylen Bentley with his third of the season. For Lowndes, it was sophomore linebacker Johnny Bebo with his first on the season.

The Lowndes defense also forced two fumbles, giving the offense a total of three extra possessions but the Vikings struggled in the red zone against Valdosta’s defensive front.

Both Parrish’s 54-yard run and Fleming’s pair of runs brought Lowndes into the red zone, as well as one of the fumbles putting Lowndes right on the Valdosta 6-yard line. In their trips inside the red zone, the Vikings were unable to come away with anything other than a pair of Aiden Andrews field goals as the Valdosta defense stood its ground every time.

Though the Vikings did manage to find the end zone on a pass play from Parrish to Ronnie Davis, the play was waved off for the Vikings having an ineligible player downfield.

Lowndes head coach Zach Grage was a man of few words after the game, but he did have big praise for the effort and heart his players showed on the field Friday night.

“All 123 of them, the players’ effort was phenomenal,” Grage said, “We’ve got a bunch of warriors out there. They did a great job. Hats off to Coach Felton’s group. They’re a good team, but our kids played their rear ends off.”

UP NEXT

Lowndes hosts its final non-region game next Friday night against Dunbar (Fla.), before visiting Colquitt County, hosting Richmond Hill and playing at Camden to finish the regular season.