Rivalry Spotlight: Lowndes vs Valdosta

Throughout the state of Georgia, there are countless high school football rivalries that have stood the test of time, and have continually delivered classics, while also being able to produce top notch talent. Perhaps one of the most heated high school football rivalries in the entire state, and country, is that of Lowndes and Valdosta. Deep in south Georgia, lies both of these high schools, who have been battling it out for years. They are cross town rivals who have years of history between them. Since 1968, Lowndes and Valdosta have been competing in what is known as the Winnersville classic, in which the winner of the game would be able to hoist the trophy for an entire year. Between these two schools, Valdosta holds the record for the most wins in the nation over 55 years. The school has totaled 929 wins. While this is very impressive, Lowndes has managed to hold their own, and has won a total of 5 state titles. While this rivalry has been proven to be very competitive over the years, the most recent meeting between these two teams during the 2019 season resulted in a final score of 24-0, with Lowndes finding themselves on top. As you could assume, this probably has not set well with the Valdosta Wildcats, and we are all expecting an interesting game between these two during the 2020 football season. Because we are months away from this match up, we wanted to take some time to shed some light on some of the key players you can expect in this years game. Hopefully this will give you enough time to do some research on these players, and become familiar with them before this upcoming season. We’re sure that you won’t regret it. <strong>Valdosta High School</strong> In 2020, Valdosta High School has a large amount of stars returning. For starters, game changing receivers such as [player_tooltip player_id="33718" first="Aalah" last="Brown"], and [player_tooltip player_id="33732" first="Javonte" last="Sherman"], will be largely contributing to an offense that appears to be leaning towards its new transfer QB, Amari Jones. The receiving corps, headed by Brown, who has multiple power 5 offers, and Sherman, who is committed to ECU, will also be adding the talented transfer WR [player_tooltip player_id="33887" first="Tajh" last="Sanders"] to the lineup. With this, their defense will be looking to further develop and improve in the 2020 season, hoping to be able to stop Lowndes productive offense. Players such as Louisville LB commit, [player_tooltip player_id="33741" first="Jaylin" last="Alderman"], and CB JaDarian Rhym will also hope to be able to slow down Lowndes down. <strong>Lowndes High School</strong> The Lowndes Vikings have their fair share of talent on their roster as well. Their roster is led by the likes of [player_tooltip player_id="33889" first="Jacurri" last="Brown"], a 4 star QB who has been gaining plenty of national attention, and SEC offers. Brown will have the pleasure of continuing to pass to the 6’2 WR, Dominique Marshall, who has been able to put up a nice highlight reel of his own. While the offense will continue to develop, we are most excited about the returning defense that has proven to hold very strong. The Lowndes defense, including players such as Thomas Davis, Louisville commit TJ Quinn, Jalon Baker, and Tylar Belcher, are hoping to be able to shut out Valdosta two years in a row. Regardless of if they shut them out again, we have no doubt that the Miami LB commit, Thomas Davis, will have no problem making plays. While this rivalry has produced various classics in the past, we expect the 2020 season to do just the same. Not only will the players we listed be a contributing factor in the overall result in the contest, but it can be expected that new prospects from both teams will begin to emerge as well, thus granting them the attention that they would deserve. With this said, we hope that you’re just as excited as we are. You can count on us to be checking in on this game come October 2020. &nbsp;