The Long County High School football team fell to undefeated Vidalia, 42-0, Friday in Ludowici in its homecoming game.
On Vidalia’s first possession, quarterback Jordan Black ran to the left side of his line and scampered 68 yards for a score. After a successful point-after kick, the Indians led, 7-0.
Long County was forced to punt, giving Vidalia the ball in good field position at its own 40-yard line. From the Long County 16-yard line, Indian wide receiver Blake Corbett ran an out pattern towards the goal, and Black floated a pass to him in the corner of the end zone for another score. The Indians led, 14-0, less than six minutes into the game.
On Long County’s next possession, Donnell Campbell ran a sweep to the left side for a big 17-yard gain. Four plays later, however, Blue Tide punter Carlos Navarre was back on the field. He blasted the ball deep and Vidalia had possession at its own 23.
However, the Indians moved down field, with a mixture of passes and runs, to the Long County 13. There, Black crisply faked a handoff to the fullback, who was running to the left side of the line, and then gave the ball to Keshawn Williams, who ran off-tackle on the right and in for the score en route to a 21-0 lead.
The Blue Tide threw an interception on its ensuing possession, giving the Indians the ball at the Long County 32. Two plays later, Black ran to the left and raced in for the touchdown and a 28-0 lead.
On its next series of downs, Long County again was forced to punt. However, the snap from the center fell short of Navarre and bounced on the ground. Navarre attempted to pick it up, but slipped on the wet field, giving the Indians the ball at the Long County 9.
Vidalia called another misdirection handoff, this time giving the ball to Nathan McBride, who rambled in for the score. The point-after kick gave the visitors a 35-0 going into halftime.
The Indians added another touchdown in the third quarter to wrap up the scoring.
With the Region 2-AA loss, Long County, which has dropped three games in a row, fell to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in the region. Vidalia improved to 6-0 and 3-0.
After the game, Blue Tide head Coach Ron Flott praised the opposition and said that he and his team would continue to fight to end the losing skid.
“We were overmatched tonight,” he said. “They have some pretty good football players on both sides of the ball over there. But we’re going to regroup and work as hard as we can to get out of this slump and win a football game.”
Long County is back home this Friday to face New Hampstead. A preview of that game, as well as a wrap of Friday’s homecoming coronation, will be online at coastalcourier.com and Wednesday’s print edition.