Lee County isn’t finished being a Class AAAAAA dynasty.
The two-time defending champions, blown out by Class AAA Peach County in the early season, reasserted their dominance Friday night by defeating No. 2 Valdosta 53-50 in a Region 1-AAAAAA game of seven ties and nine lead changes. The advantage was never more than seven points for either team, and Lee County won it with a 20-yard field goal by Austin Beaver in the final minute.
The victory in the state’s wildest game puts the fourth-ranked Trojans (7-1, 2-0) back in the lead in a region whose teams have won state titles each of the past four seasons. Valdosta missed its chance to clinch the region title and fell to 7-2, 2-1.
Most of the other showdowns between top-10 teams went to the favorite, and always when a No. 1-ranked team was involved.
No. 1 Lowndes of Class AAAAAAA beat No. 10 Camden County 45-13. Lowndes, ranked in the top 12 of six national polls, will play at home next week against No. 3 Colquitt County for the Region 1 championship. The Vikings had dealt cross-town Valdosta its only defeat until Friday.
No. 1 Marist of AAAA beat No. 6 Flowery Branch 27-0. Marist now has faced four teams that entered with top-10 rankings and shut out three of them. Marist (9-0, 5-0) will face defending AAAA champion Blessed Trinity (7-1, 4-0) next week for the Region 7-AAAA championship.
No. 1 Irwin County of the Class A public-school division beat No. 4 Wilcox County 16-0 in a Region 2 game. Irwin (7-0, 5-0) has allowed only three touchdowns and 22 points this season in pursuit of its first state title since 1975.
Several other games established clear front-runners in region play.
Parkview, ranked No. 8 in AAAAAAA, beat Brookwood 50-19 and left as the Region 7-AAAAAAA team without a loss. Parkview is on target for its first back-to-back region titles since the state-championship reign of 2000-02 and can clinch that distinction next week by beating Meadowcreek (4-4, 3-1).
Westlake defeated Newnan 34-7 in a Region 2-AAAAAAA. That leaves the Lions (5-3, 3-0) as the lone unbeaten team in region play and clearly favored to win their sixth straight region title.
No. 10 Mays beat No. 9 South Paulding 28-7 in a Region 5-AAAAAA game. Mays (7-1, 6-0) is now the only team without a loss in that region.
The only stark upset of the evening was Baldwin’s 44-30 victory over No. 7 Burke County in AAAA. Baldwin is the defending Region 3-AAAA champion and beat Burke last season but entered 2-6. Burke fell to 7-2.
Two weeks remain in the regular season. The playoffs begin Nov. 15.
About the Author
