VALDOSTA — Lowndes spent a quarter hot, but weren’t able to do anything else against the Tift County Blue Devils on a preseason football scrimmage Friday, Aug. 11. That 12-minute period was enough for 28 points and a 28-14 win in the varsity section.

Tift was never out of the picture, though. The Blue Devils’ defense scored before the offense ever touched the ball and Tift was inside Lowndes’ 25 three times, with a touchdown, an unlucky break on a catch and the clock as the result.

And, in exciting news for the future, the JV Devils won 7-0 in their quarter against Lowndes.

The regular season begins for Tift County Aug. 18 at Coffee, a 7:30 p.m. start at Douglas’ Jardine Stadium. The Trojans were a 10-3 quarterfinalist in Class 5A in 2022.

Jaden Nelson picked a pass of Marvis Parrish to open scoring, a 51-yard jaunt down the Tift sidelines that saw him pick up three key blocks on his way to the end zone.

David Sandoval’s kick gave the Devils a 7-0 advantage 50 seconds into the game.

Lowndes recovered from there. Parrish connected twice with receivers, but the big damage came on the ground, with Jacarre Fleming finishing off the eight-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. Aiden Andrews made the first of four extra point kicks and the score was squared at 7-all.

Aalim Brown burst 50 yards for the Vikings’ second score, a two-play drive where he had both carries. At 6:20, Lowndes had its lead at 14-7.

Tift got its first first down of the evening on a 10-yard pass from Christopher Martin to Titus Beauford, but could not get further before having to punt again. They held off Lowndes on the next drive, Kaleb Lewis tipping away a Parrish third down throw.

Building off the last drive, Martin began clicking more with his receivers. Tristan Boone and Taylan Morrow both had catches, but a false start kept them from moving the sticks.

Brown and Fleming got Lowndes going on the ground again, then Parrish made it a 21-7 game with a 26-yard strike to Jaylin Carter in the back of the north end zone with 28 seconds in the 1st quarter.

Parrish completed 4 of 6 attempts in the first 12 minutes for 60 yards, but that would be the end of his luck through the air.

Coleman Lewis cut short Tift’s possession with a fumble recovery. Tift sacked Parrish at the end of the quarter, but faced an uphill climb with the short field for the Vikings. Two plays into the 2nd period, Parrish ran around left end for a 15-yard touchdown.

That would be the end of Lowndes’ scoring for the rest of the night. Tift’s defense bent, but refused to break after Parrish threw incomplete on third down on his next two drives, necessitating a punt. Had quarterback sacks been more than two-hand touch, the Blue Devils would have ended up with the ball on a short field instead of via punt.

Javion Romer crashed through the Lowndes line for a strip sack of Parrish, but being a scrimmage, the play was blown dead there instead of Romer getting a chance to get on the ball.

In between Vikings punts, Tift had its best drive on offense.

Moate bolted north for 52 yards, going from his 25 to the Lowndes 23. Two snaps later, Martin split two defenders to find Beauford beyond the stripes for a 17-yard score at 2:28. Sandoval’s toe was true and the hosts’ lead was cut to 28-14.

Even with the strip sack blown dead, the Devils were on the move again near the end of the half, aided by a personal foul against Lowndes. Running a hurry-up offense, Martin connected twice, driving down to the 23.

With 7 seconds left, head coach Noel Dean opted for a field goal try, which fell perhaps a foot short of the crossbar.

Camron Warren deflected two Parrish throws in the 3rd, including what had looked to be a touchdown upon release. To go along with his two misses in the 2nd, Parrish was incomplete five more times in the 3rd and finished at 4-of-13 with a touchdown and the Nelson pick-six.

Moate ran for seven yards to begin the 3rd before cramping up in the high humidity of an August night in southern Georgia.

Tift almost scored again in the varsity portion on a 46-yard throw. Morrow made a tough catch in traffic and had it stripped from him as he was trying to break away. Lowndes recovered inside the 10.

Martin completed 11 of 19 passes for an unofficial 125 yards and a touchdown. Moate had 87 yards on the ground in one carry more than a half. Morrow had three catches for 67 yards and Beauford caught four for 49 and a score.

Lowndes stayed trapped in its own territory throughout the junior varsity quarter. The Devils scored a rushing touchdown when Shurrod Rich refused to be tackled on a run up the middle from inside the 5. The defense recovered a fumble to shut down the young Vikings.