By Bren Shepard/Sportswriter
CNHI
TIFTON —
The Lowndes High Vikings controlled the ball in the second half and didn’t allow the Tift County Blue Devils to score any points in a 21-0 victory.
With the win Lowndes clinches a spot in the state playoffs, ending Tift’s season on a seven-game losing streak.
The game was a defensive battle the entire first half. Lowndes scored midway through the first quarter on a seven-yard run by Nicholas Burgman. That capped a two-play, 13-yard drive that was set up after a Tadric Jackson punt out of the back of his own endzone was returned, fumbled and eventually recovered by Lowndes deep in Tift territory.
Both teams would have chances through the rest of the half, Tift missing two field goals, Lowndes missing one.
The Devils would go without starting quarterback Jackson for the majority of the second quarter after he injured his right shoulder after being sacked. He would be replaced by Kris Miller, who saw plenty of action earlier in the season when Jackson was out with an injured ankle.
Tift’s first miss came from 37 yards out. Josue Perez’s kick had plenty of length but sailed wide-right.
With only seconds left in the half Perez came back out for a 50-yarder, his longest attempt of the season. The kick once again had the distance, but this time missed wide-left.
With that the teams headed into halftime with neither the Vikings nor the Blue Devils having the clear advantage in momentum.
To start the second half, Lowndes started out on their own 32-yardline. Lance Jarriel’s first pass was picked off by Ladarius Stewart to put the Blue Devils in business.
Miller would march the Devils to the Vikings’ 40-yardline before the drive would stall.
That would lead to a long, five-minute drive by the Vikings that would stretch 80 yards over 12 plays and would end with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Burgman.
On the ensuing kickoff Tift’s Drew Davis would break through to Lowndes’ side of the field before the ball was stripped and eventually recovered by Matt Frazier of the Vikings.
Lowndes would once again hold the ball for over five minutes, but came away empty on the drive, as their 40-yard field goal attempt fell short.
The Blue Devils once again were able to string together a good drive, but eventually turned the ball over on downs with 8:17 left in the game.
Lowndes would take the ball 58 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Josh Clemons that sealed the game for the Vikings.
Tift would be held to a three-and-out and punted the ball away with 4:22 on the clock.
Instead of running the clock out, Lowndes chose to continue running their normal offense, which ended up being a gift for the Blue Devils’ Nick Utley.
At that point in the game Utley had four catches, which tied him for the single season receptions record for Tift County. Lowndes would end up fumbling on Tift’s 18, giving the Blue Devils the ball with 1:37 left in the game.
The first play of the drive would be a nine-yard pass to Utley, giving him the record. He would add another catch of 16 yards, giving him six catches on the day, and 52 for the season.
The game would end with Miller being sacked, the Vikings’ seventh sack on the night.
Lowndes was led on the night offensively by Jarriel, who would pass for 161 yards while gaining 66 yards on the ground. His favorite target was Burgman, who caught seven passes for 99 yards. Clemons caught five for 58.
On the ground they were led by Mike Moore, who carried the ball 17 times for 78 yards.
Before being injured Jackson had completed 8 of 14 passes for 96 yards. Miller added 63 yards on the night.
Utley and Davis each brought in six of those passes, Utley for 53 yards, Davis for 46.
Tift continued their struggles on the ground, combining for only 43 yards. Miller led the team with 36 on the ground.
Tift ends the season on a seven-game losing steak after a promising 3-0 start. This will most likely be the last season the Blue Devils will be a member of Region 1-AAAAA, as they are set to move up to AAAAAA next season.
