Five Vikings Sign on National Signing Day!
Congrats to Josh-Harvey Clemons (Unviversity of Georgia), Jayson Crum (Valdosta State University), James Mathis (Florida Atlantic University), Mike Moore (Hutchinson Community College), and Matt Frazier (Georgia Military College) on their college commitments!

2012 Varsity Schedule Announced
The Vikings have released their 2012 football schedule.  As with the past year it features eight (8) home contests including the preseason game.  Thomasville High will be the pre-season opponent and will visit Martin Stadium on August 17 for an 8:00 PM contest. 

The regular season will open two weeks later with Luella High from Region 2-6A followed by Newton (2-6A), Windsor Forest (3-5A) and Hardaway (1-5A).   The Hardaway game will be Homecoming. 

Region play begins September 28 with a trip to Colquitt High in Moultrie.  With the addition of Camden County and Brunswick High, the region schedule consists of six (6) games this year.  Both Camden and Brunswick will visit Martin Stadium in 2012. 

The schedule was set at a region meeting in early January through a blind draw.  The Vikings drew the last open date and will be open November 9, 2012.

It is anticipated that renewal letters for season tickets will be mailed out in mid to late March.

You can view the full schedule here.

Josh Clemons Playing, McPherson Coaching in US Army All-American Bowl
Valdosta Daily Times

When you meet Josh Clemons, it is hard to ignore his tall, 6-foot-5 stature. It is also hard to ignore the big smile that sits on the 17-year-old’s face.

That is just Josh Clemons. He is a fun, hard working student-athlete who loves to smile. At least that is what teachers and coaches at Lowndes High School will tell you.

As for what members of opposing football teams that have dealt with Clemons throughout his career for the Vikings’ football team will say, they might describe him a little differently. They might call Clemons scary, freaky, fast, unbelievable and great, all of which are fair to use when describing the state’s top prospect in this year’s senior class.

After all, the senior finished the 2011 season as the Region 1-AAAAA Defensive Player of the Year, while also being named first team All-State.

Listed as a four-star recruit, Clemons is ranked as the No. 2 outside linebacker in the nation and the No. 1 overall prospect in the state. He is ranked as the 23rd overall prospect in the nation, according to ESPNU’s Top 150 list. Despite all the national attention that he has earned, Clemons has managed to stay humble throughout the entire process.

“My grand dad always taught me to never brag on myself, always let others do it for you,” Clemons said. “I don’t really pay attention to all of it. If it isn’t a coach calling me that I don’t know, then I don’t answer it, and I just try to stay focused on the goal.”

As National Signing Day quickly approaches, and the attention on Clemons continues to intensify, the senior is set to display his talents on a national level, as he is spending the week in San Antonio, Texas as a participant in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Clemons’ week in the Lone Star State will conclude Saturday with the playing of the game, which will air on NBC at 1 p.m.

“It is exciting,” Clemons said. “I am going to go out there and try to have fun and compete to the best of my abilities against all of those great players that will be out there. I think it is another way to show that you can play if you can play against the best.”

 While in Texas for bowl preparation this week, Clemons won’t have to look too far for a familiar face. Lowndes head coach Randy McPherson is serving as the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator for the East team, guaranteeing that McPherson will get one last chance to work with Clemons before his departure to college.

“I think it is important because now I have my coach,” Clemons said. “So now I feel somewhat comfortable around some of the other plays. This is probably my first all-star game that I’ve played in since Boys and Girls Club, so it will be good to have somebody there that I know.”

“We are having a good time,” McPherson said about the final chance to work with Clemons. “Practice has been going well. It has been a good week... Josh has done real well with these guys. He is on their level, especially physically.”
Full article from Valdosta Daily Times.

GHSA Announces New Region Alignments
Lowndes, Valdosta, Colquitt, Tift, Camden, Coffee, and Brunswick form Region 1-AAAAAA

Valdosta Daily Times
After dividing its member schools into a six classification system last month, the Georgia High School Association set new region alignments for the upcoming 2012-13 and 2013-14 athletic seasons on Tuesday.

The six classifications were each divided into eight regions. Every region statewide, except Region 6-AA, will be formed by subregions, which were created to reduce travel cost and the amount of time student-athletes will spend out of the classroom.

According to the GHSA’s official announcement, if a region chooses to subdivide because of the large number of schools that form the region, or due to the large travel distances in the region, then subdivisions established by the Committee must be used. Regions may also choose to play a full region schedule instead of using subregions by garnering a 2/3 vote of the Principals of the member schools in the region. The decision to play full region schedules may be on a sport-by-sport basis.

As for how the regions will look beginning in August, all five teams that currently form Region 1-AAAAA, Lowndes, Valdosta, Coffee, Colquitt County and Tift County, will move to Region 1-AAAAAA. Those schools will be joined in the new region by Camden County and Brunswick, the only other South Georgia schools that will make the move to the new 6A classification.

Camden County and Brunswick’s current region, 3-AAAAA, features primarily Savannah based schools, which will stay in Class 5A, thus opening the door for the consolidation of Camden County and Brunswick into Region 1.

The new Region 1-AAAAAA is broken into two subregions, with Lowndes, Valdosta, Colquitt County and Tift County forming Subregion A. Camden County, Coffee and Brunswick will form Subregion B.

Despite the subregions, nearly all regions, at all classifications, will likely play full region schedules in football, in order to fill the required 10 game seasons.

In the case of a full region schedule, Region 1-AAAAAA will likely be considered the toughest region in the state, considering Camden County and Lowndes have combined for six of the last nine state championships in football to go along with the recent success of Colquitt County, who has reached the quarterfinals in each of the last three seasons.
Full article from the VDT

Viking Coach's Show
Join us in person each Tuesday night from 6:45 PM - 8:00 PM at Austin's Cattle Co. for the "Lowndes High Randy McPherson Coach's Show." Coach McPherson will discuss the previous week's game, the upcoming opponent, and introduce the players of the game & player of the week.

If you can't make it in person, tune your radio dial to 99.5 Kix Country and listen or watch the show streamed LIVE via your computer (http://www.thevikingvoice.tv/).

TD Club Meetings:
Touchdown Club meetings will be held each Monday night at 7:00 PM after a Friday night game in the LHS Media Center.  The monthly business meetings, which are still held in the offseason, are held on the 2nd Monday of each month and will be held in the fieldhouse.

Kix Country 99.5FM:
Viking Football Broadcaster
As the Vikings move the football up and down the field they will also be moving on your radio dial.  The Lowndes County Schools Athletic Department and Black Crow Media are pleased to announce the broadcast of Lowndes Viking football games will be moving to WKAA – Kix County 99.5.   With a minimum of 75,000 watts, radio coverage of the Viking football games will now span from Cordele to Lake City, FL and from Moultrie to Waycross.  The broadcast team of Wes James and Bill Osborne will continue to bring you the play by play of each Viking victory.  If you cannot be at the game join Wes and Bill by tuning into 99.5 FM or visiting www.995kixcountry.fm and click on the ‘Listen Live Click Here’ link. 

Viking Desktop Wallpaper
You can add plenty of Viking spirit to your computer with this new desktop background, available in standard and widescreen formats. When the picture loads, just right-click it and click "set as background" or "set as desktop background."