VALDOSTA — The Lowndes High defense answered the call of head coach Randy McPherson, and shut out Ware County 30-0 Friday night.

Throughout the week, McPherson had been asking his defensive unit to play with more effort, and they did just that on Friday, dominating the Gators (1-2) on Homecoming night.

Ware County managed just 99 offensive yards, and couldn’t even move past its own 44 while the Lowndes’ starters were in throughout the first three quarters.

Not only could the Gators not reach the 50-yard line against Lowndes’ first unit, but they also managed just one first down throughout three quarters. The Gators’ woes continued throughout the game, as the Vikings prevented Ware County, the defending Class AAAA state runners-up, from converting any of its third-down plays.

“That’s a good defensive night for us,” senior linebacker Gerald Demps said.

The Vikings appeared tired late in last week’s game against Peachtree Ridge, in which they allowed 258 yards of total offense. McPherson then urged his defense to work harder, as Friday’s contest against the Gators approached.

“We were kind of tired last game, so we knew we had to give more effort,” Demps said. “He told us to leave it all on the field.”

Lowndes did just that, picking up an interception, a fumble recovery and five sacks.

Among the sack culprits was defensive end Michael Copeland, and picking up a fumble was new linebacker Demps.

Demps moved to linebacker from the secondary, replacing Copeland, who’d moved to the line, and the move turned out well for the Vikings.

“Demps is a football player,” McPherson said. “He can play a lot of places. He’s a team player, I tell you what. He played well tonight.”

While Lowndes held Ware under 100 yards, the Vikings piled up 272 offensive yards, including 247 on the ground.

Greg Reid and Khary Franklin each had two touchdowns for the Vikings, and Mark Willis added a 30-yard field goal to complete the rout.

Reid struck first on a 1-yard touchdown with 50 seconds left in the first quarter, capping off a drive which featured 52 yards on two plays.

After Willis’ field goal in the second quarter, Franklin kept the ball on a quarterback option and ran 20 yards into the end zone to bring the game to 17-0 with 1:13 remaining in the half.