Vikings fall in playoff opener at Carrollton

Nov. 15—CARROLLTON — The Lowndes Vikings' season came to an end with a 38-14 loss to the Carrollton Trojans (11-0) Saturday night.

Leading 31-14 in the fourth, Trojans senior cornerback Quin Ackey capped the night by picking off Lowndes sophomore quarterback Marvis Parrish and returning it for a touchdown with 4:06 to play.

A Seth Childers 32-yard hookup with Bryce Hicks with 4 seconds remaining before the half made it 24-7 Trojans at halftime.

While the Trojans were able to jump ahead 14-0 in the first quarter, the Vikings responded with a 99-yard kickoff return by Kevis Thomas to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 2:44 left in the first quarter.

The Vikings struck first out of the half with a 49-yard touchdown run by junior Jacarre Fleming to pull the Vikings within 10 at 24-14 with 8:39 left in the third quarter, but that would be the closest the Vikings would get the rest of the way.

Carrollton finished with 397 yards of total offense while Lowndes put up 199 on the night.

Much of the Trojans' attack came through the air as Lewis and Childers combined to go 21 of 31 for 253 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Hicks led the ground game for the Trojans with 26 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown. Jamun Lewis had five carries for 22 yards with a first-quarter score.

Hicks also had four catches for 79 yards and a touchdown while Libscomb had a team-best five grabs for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Offensively, the Trojans finished with 24 first downs — 10 more than the Vikings — and went 7 of 13 on third down conversions in the game.

Defensively, the Trojans sacked Parrish four times and forced three turnovers. Brodie Bradburn, Jace Ward, Michael Branden and Freddy Perez each recorded a sack in the contest with Ward leading the team with 4.5 total tackles (2.5 for losses).

In the final game of his first season as the Vikings' starting quarterback, Parrish went 13 of 27 for 88 yards with two interceptions. Parrish also had 18 carries for 24 yards.

Fleming led the way on offense for the Vikings with eight carries for 68 yards and a touchdown while Aalim Brown added four carries for 19 yards.

Jaylin Carter paced the Vikings' aerial attack with a game-high tying five catches for 45 yards while Thomas had four catches for 31 yards in the loss.

Carrollton advances to the next round to face Marietta this Friday at 7 p.m. Lowndes finishes the season 5-6 under first-year head coach Zach Grage.