VALDOSTA –– Delayed an hour by a thunderstorm, Lowndes’ lone preseason game seemed unlikely it would make it to kickoff.

Then, 30 minutes before kickoff, a rainbow stretched from one side of Martin Stadium’s visitor section to the other – signifying a chance for the Lowndes High Vikings to finally hit someone wearing a different jersey than their own.

Surprisingly, the Vikings got all they could handle from Region 2-A Private Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy. The Chargers played with the abandon of a team looking to send a message as they edged the Vikings 19-13 in Saturday’s preseason tune-up. 

After the game, Vikings head coach Jamey DuBose told his team, “We’ve got to get better.”

“We didn’t work on (Eagle’s Landing) –– I’ll be the first to say that. We worked on us,” DuBose said. “We’re young, but we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to get better every day. Now, this should be a wake-up call hopefully. We’ll go back to work next week. We’re going to have a really good week of practice and get more physical.”

Arguably the play of the game came on first-and-10 from the Chargers’ 12-yard line. Quarterback Charlie Gilliam handed off to tailback Brandon Hood, who found a hole in the Lowndes defense and tunneled 88 yards to pay dirt for a 19-7 lead with 3:58 left in the half.

The Chargers also hurt the Vikings through the air as Gilliam lofted a 75-yard strike as he was knocked to the turf that went for a touchdown early in the second quarter –– leaving the crowd in Martin Stadium speechless.

“We learned, defensively, we can’t be a man cover team and go zero,” DuBose said. “We could do that with some guys we had last year. That’s what we tried to do tonight to see if we could or couldn’t and I think we saw we can’t. Defensively, we’ve got to do a better job of knowing how to align and our personnel that we’ve got in there. That’s why you play games like this. We played pretty well in the spring. We were missing a safety (Tylar Belcher) tonight, but for the most part, we had everybody here.

“I don’t think we went out here and prepared good enough to win a ballgame, but it’s the first week of practice. It’s fall camp. We were in camp all week. I was worried about the Lowndes Vikings and trying to get us better. … I don’t win state championship games right now. I want to come out here and see what our guys can and can’t do. That was the whole purpose of everything.”

Miami commit Jacurri Brown accounted for both of the Vikings’ scores Saturday night. 

Brown’s first touchdown encapsulated why Brown will be a Hurricane next fall. On second-and-2 from the 17, Brown looked to be bottled up by the Chargers before reversing field and beating a Chargers defender to the sideline. The 6-foot-4 Brown then sprawled out and dove for the right pylon to score to give the Vikings their only lead of the game at 7-6 early in the second quarter.

The second touchdown saw Brown make a couple Chargers miss on a nifty spin move and cruising 18 yards into the end zone to cut the lead to 19-13 with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter.

When asked about how Brown looked in his first live action of the preseason, DuBose wasn’t in the mood to say anything he hasn’t already said about his star quarterback.

“He always (looks good),” DuBose quipped.

Not everything was spectacular for Brown, however, as the senior was intercepted twice on the night. Coincidentally, both picks came on throws downfield intended for newcomer Khris Thomas that were hauled in by Chargers defensive back Colton Hood in the end zone.

Despite several breakdowns in pass protection, the Vikings ran the ball effectively between Brown, converted running back Chase Belcher and Jacarre “Smoke” Fleming.

“Chase Belcher played well, I thought,” DuBose said. “Chase was banged up most of the week. I thought Jacarre Fleming did a very good job for us. They ran the ball well and made some plays in the run game. We’ve just got to get a few more playmakers outside to do some things. … I’ll be honest with you, protection was not good tonight. They came after us with an odd stack look and put some pressure on us and Jacurri didn’t feel comfortable at times and got flushed out of the pocket and tried to make some plays.

“The last interception we had, we had a wheel route to Chase we designed perfectly down the sideline. He was wide open. If we have time to throw it, we probably walk into the end zone. If Jacurri scrambles that way instead of running to the other side of the field, he sees him. There’s a lot of what-ifs, man. You can sit here and play the what-if game all night. Now, as a head coach, my job is to go fix the things that are wrong. The good thing is we’ve got two weeks to fix that and that’s where we’re at right now.”

Among the stumbling blocks for the Vikings were penalties and failing to convert on third-downs. A would-be touchdown throw from Brown to receiver Justin Barron was called back following a 10-yard holding penalty. 

The penalty preceded Belcher getting stopped cold on third-and-9 to bring up fourth-down. Looking to cash in before halftime, the Vikings tried a 38-yard field goal by kicker Franklin Aguilar that smacked off the left upright as time expired.

“We’ve got to win the battles at the line of scrimmage,” DuBose said. “They converted on third-and-shorts. We couldn’t. We had too many penalties on offense. I think we jumped offsides with our offensive line four times tonight on short yardage situations. We had three holding calls that hurt us. We had two picks and on both balls, we’ve got to go up and get it. And we will – that’s what learning is all about. That’s what we do off this film. We’ll get better. 

“This stings a little bit, but this is not a game. It’s a practice. I looked at a lot of different things tonight. I got to see what we could do and not do and now as coaches, we get to evaluate that and we’ve got two weeks to get ready for Walton.”

UP NEXT

Lowndes travels to Mercedes-Benz Stadium Saturday, Aug. 21 to face Walton in the Corky Kell Classic. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:45 p.m.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.