Lowndes hosts Tift Blue Devils

By Adam MacDonald

The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — The Lowndes Vikings got off to a good start in Region 1-AAAAA play last week with a 31-6 win on the road against Colquitt County. The Vikings will try for a 2-0 start in the region tonight when they return to Martin Stadium for the first time in three weeks to take on the Tift County Blue Devils at 8 p.m.

“Tift County has a good football team,” Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson said. “We’re going to have to play better than we did last week. We have to play smarter and harder. That’s always our goal.”

While Lowndes has started the season on a roll, with four straight wins, Tift County (1-3) has struggled mightily. The Blue Devils began the season with a 42-7 loss at Roswell, then lost at home to Brooks County for the second consecutive year. They followed that loss with a 20-0 win over Cook, but got blasted for the third time in four games in a 34-0 loss at Warner Robins last week. Overall, the Blue Devils have been outscored 103-34. Their three losses have been by an average of 29.67 points.

The Blue Devils have the region’s longest streak of playoff appearances with four. Several key players that helped them make the playoffs the last four years are gone. On defense, the Blue Devils have 10 new starters this year.

“I know that they’re well-coached and they play hard,” McPherson said.

Offensively, Tift County still has one of the most dangerous players in the region. Senior quarterback Malcom Dixon doesn’t have great passing numbers this year (33-of-67 for 315 yards, with no touchdowns and three interceptions), but he has been recruited by Georgia Tech, so the Vikings know he can run.

“He’s a good runner and a good quarterback,” McPherson said. “He has a lot of experience. He’s definitely a big-time player.”

Another offensive threat is Micah McCants, a receiver who has seven catchers for 41 yards.

One of the Vikings’ goals against Tift County is to avoid giving up the big play. Last week against Colquitt County, the Vikings gave up four plays over 30 yards. Colquitt County running back Tevin King had a 50-yard run and a 68-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Tyler Brown completed passes of 30 and 35 yards to receiver Quin Roberson.

“We just went back to work and worked on fixing it,” McPherson said. “The bottom line is last week our kids played hard. They played hard for 48 minutes. We’ve worked hard this week and we’ve gotten better.”

The Vikings’ offense has started a trend that McPherson likes. Against the two AAAAA teams the Vikings have played — Peachtree Ridge and Colquitt County — the Vikings’ offense has worn down the defense with a powerful running game in the second half. In the game against Peachtree Ridge, 246 of the Vikings’ 297 rushing yards came in the second half. Against Colquitt County, the Vikings used three clock-killing drives in the second half to keep the Packers’ offense off the field.