Lowndes runs past Packers 52-31, takes region championship (UPDATED)

Wayne Grandy, The Moultrie Observer, Ga.
·3 min read

Oct. 23—VALDOSTA — Lowndes left little about who the Region 1-7A champion would be for 2021.

The Vikings rolled past the Colquitt County 52-31 on Joe Wilson Field at Martin Stadium on Friday in a statement-making game.

Lowndes is now 2-0, leaving the Packers behind at 1-1.

Tift County also is 1-1 after defeating Camden County 21-14. It was the Blue Devils' first region victory since 2018.

Camden falls to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the region.

The regular season will end next Friday when Tift County visits to play on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium in what is essentially a battle for No. 2 in the region.

Even if Colquitt and Lowndes finished tied, the Vikings have the head-to-head tiebreaker for the top seed from the region heading into the playoffs.

Tift County would be No. 2 if it could upset the Packers in the Hawg Pen.

The Packers are 7-2 overall.

The Vikings rolled up over 440 yards of offense, including 138 on the ground by Chase Belcher, who ran for two scores.

Lowndes quarterback Jacurri Brown rushed for 73 yards and threw for 189, including a 78-yarder to Khris Thomas with 3:23 left to punctuate the victory.

Charlie Pace again was the workhorse for the Packers, carrying 29 times for an unofficial 171 yards. He rushed for two touchdowns and caught a scoring pass from quarterback Neko Fann.

Fann was 11-for-22 for 98 yards and also had a touchdown pass to Ny Carr.

The Packers had a chance to make a game of it when, trailing 45-31, had a first-and-goal at the Lowndes 3 with 6 minutes remaining.

But a illegal motion penalty on third-and-goal at the 1 and snap over the head of Fann resulting in a 14-yard loss ended the threat.

The teams each scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, which ended in a 14-14 tie.

Brown capped the Vikings's first possession with a 19-yard touchdowns run, but Colquitt took its first possession 80 yards in 10 plays to score on Pace's first touchdown, a 10-yard run, to tie the game.

Lowndes fumbled on the first play after the kickoff and Colquitt County's Kamal Bonner recovered at the Vikings 29.

A pass interference call on the Vikings gave Colquitt a first down at the Lowndes 14 and Pace got his second touchdown run of the quarter on an 11-yard run two plays later.

The Vikings tied the game on a 15-yard run by Khris Thomas with 2:28 left in the quarter.

It was the first of four straight Vikings touchdowns that led to a 35-14 lead.

Colquitt got seven of those points back on a Fann-to-Ny Carr touchdown pass and a Brett Fitzgerald conversion with 1:14 left in the half.

Fitzgerald added a 22-yard field goal as time expired and Colquitt trailed by just nine at the half.

A 38-yard run by Fann set up the Carr touchdown and an interception by Alexander Florence that he returned 33 yards and a 15-yard Fann run set up the Fitzgerald field goal.

The two teams traded third-quarter touchdowns: a a 17-yard Belcher run gave Lowndes a 42-24 lead with 2:51 left Pace's third score on a 28-yard pass from Fann.

Franklin Aguilar connected on a 32-yard field goal with 10:38 left in the game before the Packers self-destructed near the Lowndes goal line on their next possession.