Area teams once again head into the playoffs as the season for high school football continues tonight.

The Lowndes Vikings host East Coweta tonight in Valdosta while the Valdosta Wildcats travel to Newnan to take on the number one seed in Region 4. Lowndes is facing a tough team, but the Vikings have proven their toughness on the field and the team is ready for the challenge.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they drew one of the toughest opponents in the first round. Newnan hasn’t lost a game in two years and has been the region champs for four years in a row.

As the regular season came to a close, both teams posted impressive wins, but it’s Valdosta that had the most to lose. Coming off a humiliating loss at Lowndes, with their head coach’s fate prematurely decided mid-year, the Wildcats stepped up their game and proved their merit as a winning team.

Coach Tomberlin’s mistimed firing announcement seems to have spurred the Wildcats to finish the season with an impressive 7-3 record. Tomberlin’s record in three years so far is 22 wins and 20 losses, a nearly 53 percent winning percentage.

The players did not deserve this distraction mid-year, the coach did not deserve this kind of mistreatment by the school board or the so-called fans.

These are high school youth, playing for scholarships, playing for respect, and playing for the love of the game.

Good luck to the coaches and players tonight, but win or lose, Tomberlin and his Wildcats have shown their class on and off the field. Wish that could be said about the ones who had a hand in firing him.