VALDOSTA — The Lowndes High Vikings’ dress rehearsal for the upcoming season is Friday night. They will play at defending state champion Thomas County Central to prepare for their season opener, scheduled for Aug. 16.
Central will host the contest, with a kickoff time of 7:30 p.m. All tickets are $5 and can be purchased on GoFan or at the gate. Only cash will be accepted at the gate.
“This isn’t a normal scrimmage,” Lowndes football coach Adam Carter said. “You’re going against a team that is coming off a 15-0, state championship. I think they return close to 10 starters on each side of the football. I have heard nothing but people raving about their young kids over there at TCC and how talented, big and fast they were all the way from their eighth grade, ninth grade and 10th grade last year.
“We know we’ve got our work cut out for us. I think it’s a huge test for us just to kind of see where we’re headed to. It is a scrimmage, but it’s that whole thing of what do we show and what do we not show. You want a bunch of kids to play, but we’re going over there to play the first half just like it’s the opener.”
Central finished 15-0 last year en route to a Class 6A championship, the sixth in the program’s history. The amazing accomplishment was accomplished in Justin Rogers’ second year as head coach. Rogers is 27-1 in his short tenure with the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s going to be a test offensively. Defensively, you have a quarterback that’s a state champ coming back. They have a huge offensive line. Defensively, they have one of the top rated safeties and one of the top rated defensive linemen in the country, not Georgia, in the country. They are a talented group that is well coached and coming off a state championship,” Carter said. “We didn’t choose a game where we knew we would go out there and play with the backups. We’ve got to go out there and play with the starters and we’ve got to be game ready in a scrimmage, not just week one. We need some positive stuff to happen. That’s the way we’re going to approach it.”
Lowndes finished 4-6 last year in Carter’s first year as head coach last season.