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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

The Lowndes Academy Rebels defeated non-regional opponent, the Coosa Valley Academy Rebels, 42-14 on the road on Friday, Oct. 27 to close out the 2017 regular season with a winning 5-4 overall record and AISA Class A playoff bound.

Lowndes finished the regular season 1-3 in Class A Region 1 play and will face the Patrician Saints on the road on Friday, Nov. 3 in the first round of the AISA Class A State Football Playoffs.

Patrician is the same team Lowndes defeated 7-0 at home on Oct. 13 in what Lowndes Academy head football coach Bob Taylor called a “slobber knocker” of a game.

Speaking prophetically on Oct. 13, Taylor said after the Patrician contest, “It was a great football game. Patrician has got a quality club. We’re probably going to see them again in three weeks in the playoffs. So, if this was a precursor… what we saw a while ago… it’s going to be a heck of a ballgame in three weeks when we go down there.”

The Rebels will face Patrician this coming Friday and Taylor said tickets are on sale at the school.

Taking care of business at Coosa Valley Academy, Taylor said, “We played extremely well.” However, he said his Rebels had two turnovers that led to Coosa Valley Rebels scores.

“We have to clean that up next week for the playoffs,” Taylor said. But he said, “It was a good win for us and we are excited about the playoffs.”

Against Coosa Valley Academy, Lowndes had 340 yards of total offense including 116 passing yards and 224 rushing yards. The Coosa Valley Academy Rebels had 175 total yards of offense including 135 passing yards and 40 rushing yards.

The Lowndes Rebels suffered two lost fumbles. However, Coosa Valley suffered five turnovers including one lost fumble and four interceptions.

For Lowndes, Mason McCurdy was five for six passing for 62 yards and a touchdown. And Jon Johnson was one for one passing for 54 yards.

Jon Johnson led Lowndes in rushing with eight carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns. He was followed by Daniel Janes with four carries for 73 yards and a touchdown and McCurdy with five carries for 23 yards and a touchdown.

Also for Lowndes Academy Brian Rayburn caught three passes for 31 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively Lowndes was led by Colby Briggs, an eighth grader moved up to varsity action, who had five tackles and one tackle for loss. He was followed by Ben Crook who had four tackles, one assist and a tackle for loss, Buddy Johnson with four tackles, Daniel Callaway who had three tackles, one assist, one sack and two tackles for loss.

Also, defensively for Lowndes, Jon Johnson had two interceptions, John Morgan and Janes had one interception each and Cole Crook had a blocked kick for a touchdown.

Scoring plays in the Coosa Valley contest were as follows:

In the first quarter: Rayburn collected a 12-yard pass from McCurdy for a touchdown, and Jon Johnson added the extra point to make it a 7-0 score in favor of Lowndes; Jon Johnson ran 2-yards for a score and added the point after to make it 14-0 in favor of Lowndes; and Coosa Valley scored on a 31-fumble return to make it 14-6 in favor of Lowndes.

In the second quarter: Jon Johnson raced 68 yards for a score and added the point after to make it a 21-6 score in favor of Lowndes; Coosa Valley scored on a 35-yard fumble return and 2-point conversion to make it 21-14 still in favor of Lowndes; Janes scored on a 5-yard run,and Jon Johnson added the kick to make it 28-14 in favor of Lowndes; and Cole Crook blocked a kick and returned it 20 yards for a score with Jon Johnson kick to make it 35-14 in favor of Lowndes at the half.

In the third quarter, McCurdy closed out the scoring with an 11-yard run, and Jon Johnson added the kick to make it a 42-14 final in favor of Lowndes.

Jon Johnson went a perfect six for six in kicking extra points for Lowndes.