The defenses dominated play the rest of the half. David Arnold, Valdosta’s star running back, was held to 17 yards rushing in the half, while Perry, Lowndes’ star, gained just three.

Late in the half, Valdosta staged its first serious scoring threat. Turner scrambled for 12 yards, then found Arnold twice, helping the Wildcats move to the LHS 17. But Lawrence Clagett’s 34-yard field goal attempt sailed wide with 10 seconds left in the half, and Lowndes headed to the locker room leading 8-0.

Late in the third quarter, Lowndes caught a big break. Valdosta punt returner Perry King lost the handle on Hayden Martin’s punt, and Reid recovered at the Valdosta 26. The Vikings drove to the 20, then Willis kicked a 37-yard field goal, giving Lowndes an 11-0 lead with 11:18 left in the game.

“When we got up 11-0, I started playing it conservative,” McPherson admitted. “I thought they were going to have a real hard time scoring on our defense.”

Valdosta battled to stay in the game, and finally got on the board late in the contest, after Valdosta’s Kevin Stokes recovered a Perry fumble at the Viking 26.

Turner hit King for 13 yards, down to the 4, on a key third down play. Two plays later, Turner took the snap out of the shotgun, kept the ball, and plowed into the end zone for the touchdown. The senior quarterback then found Tavoris Belcher in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion, making it 11-8 Lowndes.

“I was proud of the fact our kids fought and fought,” Tomberlin said. “We made a lot of mistakes early that really hurt us.”

Glisson recovered the onside kick, and Lowndes tried to run out the clock. But Reid had a better idea.

The junior wingback/safety, who already had an interception and a fumble recovery, took the handoff, cut inside, found a hole and took off. He juked a couple of defenders downfield, and jogged into the end zone for the game-sealing touchdown.

“Greg Reid is a great player,” McPherson said. “He does a great job on both offense and defense.”

Fans were not allowed on the field at the end of the game. Lowndes officials and local law enforcement wanted to prevent any postgame incidents, and they did.

On the field, there was nothing but good sportsmanship, too.

“It was a good game, and it was a clean game,” McPherson said. “We had a late hit, but other than that, there were no personal fouls. That’s the way it should be.”

“I thought it was a good game, a hard-fought game,” Tomberlin said. “The people here were real nice. It was a great environment.”