No. 4 Lowndes turned two muffed-punt recoveries into touchdowns and stopped a last-minute North Cobb drive to preserve a 21-13 victory over the eighth-ranked Warriors Friday in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs.
Lowndes (9-1) appeared to have the game in hand after Israel Mitchell ran 45 yards for the eight-point lead with 1:39 remaining. However, North Cobb took the ensuing kickoff and drove from its 20 to the Lowndes 15-yard line in just over a minute. The Warriors had a first down from there, but four consecutive incomplete passes into the end zone, including one on the final play of the game, sent the Vikings to the quarterfinals for the third straight year and the fourth time in five seasons. Lowndes was the state runner-up in 2019.
Lowndes, the No. 2 seed from Region 1, will be on the road again next week when it faces Region 5 champion Milton, which advanced with a 17-9 victory over Archer.
“I’m proud of the players for the way they played,” Lowndes coach Jamey DuBose said. “Wins at this point of the year don’t have to be pretty. Tonight was not pretty, but it’s a win, it gets us on to the quarters, and that’s what it’s about is finding a way to survive and get there. We struggled tonight, but again, I tell our guys that every night’s not going to be perfect. We’re going to have adversity. We had adversity tonight.”
North Cobb (10-2) took a 7-0 lead when Malachi Singleton connected with Christian Moss on a 48-yard touchdown pass with 6:29 to play in the second quarter.
The Warriors held Lowndes to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, but North Cobb mishandled the punt and Lowndes recovered at the North Cobb 10. Jacurri Brown scored on the next play for a 7-7 tie heading into halftime.
North Cobb regained the lead at 13-7 when Trevor Lovett scored on a 15-yard run with 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter. After forcing another three-and-out, disaster struck for North Cobb again when Lowndes recovered a muffed punt at the Warriors’ 38. From there, Lowndes needed just six plays, five of which were runs by Brown, including the 4-yard touchdown run that gave the Vikings their first lead of the night at 14-13 with 8:08 to play.
Lowndes needed the short fields because it had struggled offensively throughout the game. The Vikings were held to 96 yards in the first half and had only 155 going into the fourth quarter, and they did not drive from their side of the field into North Cobb territory until their final touchdown drive.
North Cobb controlled play for much of the night but could not overcome its mistakes. In addition to the punt-return problems, the Warriors threw an interception, missed an extra point, and had a successful two-point conversion after their first touchdown nullified by a penalty, which forced the Warriors to kick the extra point instead.
The penalties were a problem, as well. North Cobb was flagged 15 times for 120 yards, including nine for 80 yards in the first half. The Warriors had five penalties on their first touchdown drive.
Overall, North Cobb finished with a 366-277 advantage in total offense. Singleton rushed for 164 yards on 28 carries and was 14-of-16 passing for 166 yards. Moss had seven catches for 98 yards.
Brown led the Vikings with 103 yards rushing on 22 carries. He was 6-of-12 passing for 29 yards.
“You walk out here and you see that we shouldn’t even have a dog in this fight, but our kids battled every play, and I’m proud of that,” North Cobb coach Shane Queen said “[Lowndes] just got the biggest Christmas present they’ve ever received, because I don’t feel like they won the football game, I feel like we gave it away to them. Hats off to them because they finished at the end, but it was because of our mistakes and not something they did. That hurts.”
Lowndes - 0-7-0-14 - 21
North Cobb - 0-7-6-0 - 13
Second quarter
N - Christian Moss 48 pass from Malachi Singleton (Ben Moran kick), 6:29
L - Jacurri Brown 10 run (Preston Hart kick), 4:16
Third quarter
N - Trevor Lovett 15 run (kick failed), 0:39
Fourth quarter
L - Brown 4 run (Hart kick), 8:08
L - Israel Mitchell 45 run (Hart kick), 1:38
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