...............FOOTBALL NEWS..........we won......27-21........ VALDOSTA — The two-score lead was gone. The momentum had long since shifted to the other side of Martin Stadium on Friday night. But after No. 8 Lowndes ran just six plays in the third quarter as No. 5 Camden County erased the two-score halftime deficit, the Vikings regrouped. One productive drive and three big defensive stands was just what Lowndes needed to edge the Wildcats 27-21 and rebound from a loss in last week’s Region 1-AAAAAA opener. Camden, meanwhile, lost a second region game in the same season for the first time since 1993 and two straight for the first time since 1990. The win was clinched on an Alex Brown interception with 70 seconds left. “They’re a very good football team,” Lowndes coach Randy McPherson said. “I’m proud of our kids for getting this one. “We have a good defense and I think we got better tonight. We didn’t get better last week but we got better tonight.” Said Brown: “I was just trying to make a play. I saw the ball in the air and I just reacted to it.” The Vikings seemed in control at the half with a 21-6 lead and receiving possession to open the third quarter. However, Lowndes’ two third-quarter drives both ended as three-and-outs, the first saw the Vikings lose yardage on all three plays. “And then on our first two possessions of the half, we struggled,” McPherson said. And with the Wildcats’ defense stiffening, Camden’s offense found its gear as well. Following the first stop of the second half, Camden and its Wing-T offense methodically wore through the Lowndes defense. Utilizing 14 plays, the Wildcats covered 54 yards to pull within a score as quarterback Antonio Hamilton found Centarius Williams open in the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown pass after 13 straight runs, including a pair of fourth-down conversions. Hamilton then hit Darryl Johnson Jr. on a similar play for a two-point conversion to make it 21-14 with 4:02 left in the third. “I thought we had them under control,” Brown said. “We had watched the film and saw that we were doing everything right. But I guess they went in and watched film on our defense and I guess they came out and executed a little better.” Another quick offensive series from Lowndes turned into another scoring drive for Camden as the Wildcats scored on the third play of the fourth quarter to knot it at 21. There, Hamilton hit Williams on a 13-yard scoring strike on a rollout after earlier hitting Brandon McMaster for 25 yards on a third-and-6. Hamilton completed 4 of 9 passes for 48 yards and the two scores with one interception. “I don’t know that they did anything different,” McPherson said. “They were just blocking us better and running harder. They were able to make some plays and score two touchdowns there.” The change in quarters didn’t snap Lowndes’ cold spell on offense as Tyson Harris threw an interception on the Vikings’ next play with the Wildcats taking over at Lowndes’ 43 following a return from Zeke Moore. But the Viking defense responded, taking advantage of a Camden penalty to force a punt. Finally the Viking offense caught fire. Netting minus-16 yards on its first three drives of the half, Lowndes ripped off 11 yards on first down on a Harris run. Dezmon Copeland followed with an eight-yard run and personal foul penalty gave the Vikings another first down and the ball in Camden territory. Following a 13-yard run from Copeland for a third first down in a row, Harris picked up six yards on two runs before Copeland broke loose from 19 yards out to put Lowndes up 27-21 with 6:24 to go. Copeland finished with 58 yards on 11 carries as Lowndes rushed for 110 yards on 34 carries. “We ran the sweep all the way down there, so I knew that they were going to go with the motion and I knew I would have to have something on the backside,” Copeland said. “I just saw a lot of green grass and I just turned it on.” Said McPherson: “You’re not going to move the ball up and down the field all night long on Camden.” Rearmed with the lead, the Viking defense knew what to do. After allowing one first down, Lowndes forced Camden to punt with 3:31 left following a Logan Neeley sack of Hamilton on third down. Then, after Camden regained possession on the Lowndes 38 with 1:52 to go, Brown picked off Hamilton’s pass with 1:10 left on second down to clinch it. “I knew we were going to come out with the win,” Brown said. In the first half, though, those heroics seemed unnecessary. Mixing the pass and the run, Lowndes marched right down the field on its first possession following a Harris punt return to near midfield. Two plays after Austin Dixon hit Gabe Nabers for 25 yards on third down, Harris capped the drive with a 5-yard scoring run. After Camden pulled with 7-6 on the second play of the second quarter when Harrison Poole — who led the Wildcats’ 253-yard rushing effort with 65 yards — raced 55 yards, the Vikings went to the air to regain the lead and control. After LaXavier Patterson completed a pair of passes to DeMarcus Jackson on the drive, Dixon found Joc Alexander alone behind the defense for a 38-yard score with 3:07 left in the half for a 14-6 lead. Two minutes later, Patterson hit Xavier Jenkins on a 26-yard scoring pass one play after scrambling for 30 yards. In all, Dixon and Patterson teamed to complete 8 of 10 passes in the first half for 141 yards and the two scores.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 10:47:40 +0000
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