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Under the Friday night lights on Sep. 15, two Lowndes County high schools prevailed bringing home wins while one school fell short. 

The Calhoun School:

The Calhoun Tigers brought home their first win of the season in a 30-26 win against the Autaugaville Eagles.

The first points on the board for the Tigers were scored during a 75-yard touchdown pass unleashed by sophomore quarterback No. 6 Jeremy Hardy who had close to 200 rushing and 150 passing yards for the second week in a row.

Head Coach Ervin Starr said while there were some twists in the game which made the Tigers’ fight more difficult, the team showed up and showed out on the field and represented their school well.

“Our game plan we set out was to run the ball and that’s what we did,” Starr said. “As long as Jeremy keeps doing what he’s doing and our offense keeps getting better and better, we’ll be on the right track.”

Starr credited the resilience of his athletes as the factor that contributed the most to their win Friday night, and said witnessing their will to overcome made him more proud than anything.

“It was a back and forth game, a very exciting game, and it can be easy when the other team is putting up a good fight to get down on ourselves and spiral out of control,” Starr said. “That didn’t happen, though. Our guys fought hard. Autaugaville is a very physical team and we sustained a lot of body blows but we didn’t give up and our speed ultimately maxed out their physicality.”

Calhoun will face the Maplesville Red Devils on Sep. 22 on the Tigers’ home field.

Central:

The Central Hayneville Lions fell victim to the Loachapoka Indians in a devastating 42-0 loss on Sept. 15.

Head Coach Corvin Johnson said this was not the result he was hoping for and that while he is disappointed with another loss, he is hopeful for a season turnaround.

“These first three games are the hardest teams on our schedule,” Johnson said. “For the rest of our season we should be able to control our own destiny. The games we have coming up are winnable for us.”

Johnson gracefully acknowledged that Loachapoka has quite a few athletes who have committed to Division 1 colleges and said it ultimately wasn’t a fair fight for the Lions.

“They [Loachapoka] have their program born and running at a level that we’re still trying to get to,” Johnson said. “We faced an opponent that we weren’t physically ready for.”

Johnson said a key player in the game was the Lions’ quarterback, No. 2 Dekijuan McCall.

“He [McCall] really stood out to everybody,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of guys that got injured and he stepped in on the defense side of the ball and made a lot of plays and stopped the drive that Loachapoka was building on.”

Central will face the Verbena Red Devils for homecoming on Sep. 22 and Johnson feels confident the Lions will secure their first season win during the coming match.

Lowndes Academy:

The Lowndes Academy Rebels hosted their fourth shut out of the season on Sep. 15 against the Edgewood Academy Wildcats with the final score resting at 35-0. 

The Rebels will face the Abbeville Christian Academy Generals on Sep. 22 on the Rebels’ home field.