Lee County losses second game in a row

VALDOSTA — After cruising through their first six games of the season, Lee County has looked like a different team in their last two games.

The Trojans put up a season-low in points on their way to a 42-7 loss to Lowndes Friday night at Martin Stadium.

The Trojans (6-2, 1-2 Region 1-AAAAAA) opened the game with the ball but went three and out. After driving into Lee territory, the Vikings were stopped at the 10-yard line.

Instead of attempting the field goal, Lowndes ran a fake that never went anywhere because the referees determined the holder’s knee was down before he pitched it to a Lowndes player streaking behind him.

The Vikings (5-3, 1-2) also faked a punt that set up the first touchdown of the game, a 30-yard pass from Austin Dixon to Xavier Jenkins to put them up 7-0.

Lee struggled to get anything going offensively in the first quarter. They went three and out on their first two drives and the third drive of the quarter ended in an interception. The Trojans had just one first down in the opening quarter.

Lowndes capitalized on the interception making a 39-yard field goal to give them a 10-0 lead at the start of the second quarter.

Lee got some momentum going on their first drive in the second quarter but after two bad snaps, the Trojans couldn’t put points on the board.

“Lowndes played really good,” Lee coach Dean Fabrizio said. “They’ve got a great program and a great tradition. They just flat whipped us tonight. It was close for a half and then we just ran out of gas.”

On the ensuing drive, the Vikings put together a drive that was capped by a second 39-yard field goal to make the score 13-0. The big play on the drive was a 37-yard run by Mike Barrett.

Lowndes had the ball to end the half and made it into Trojans territory before a sack and penalty pushed them out of scoring position and forced them to run the clock out. Lee County finished the first half with just 72 passing yards.

“We did struggle to get it moving,” Fabrizio said. “Lowndes played really good defense against us so that had a lot to do with it.”

Lowndes went up 19-0 on their first drive of the second half after Austin Dixon kept the ball and dashed 40 yards for a touchdown. The Vikings went for two but a penalty stopped them from converting.

The Trojans’ struggles continued on their second drive of the second half as they lost a fumble and gave Lowndes the ball at the Vikings 31-yard line. Working with a short field, the Vikings added another touchdown to their lead when Dixon found Gabe Nabers for a 24-yard touchdown.

It took most of three quarters for Lee to get on the scoreboard but they did late in the third quarter when Garret Morrell found Tray Eafford for a 43-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 26-7.

Solomon added a 30-yard field goal at the end of the third quarter to make the score 29-7. He made all three field goals in the game.

The Vikings added two touchdowns in fourth quarter to make the final score 42-7.

Lee is off next week before hosting Camden County on Oct. 30th.