Lee County, Valdosta to decide Region 1-AAAAAA football championship Friday in Leesburg

The Region 1-AAAAAA football championship will be decided Friday night in Leesburg.

No. 1-ranked Lee County hosts No. 3 Valdosta with hopes of claiming its fourth straight region title. The winner gets a No. 1 seed for the state playoffs, and the loser is a No. 2 seed.

Both teams look prepared for deep runs in the Class AAAAAA bracket.

“We have had a lot of big games here in Leesburg over the years, but this ranks right up there and is as big a regular season game as we have had,” Lee head coach Dean Fabrizio said. “You have the region championship on the line, two teams ranked in the top three in the state, great players on both teams. It will be a great atmosphere in Leesburg Friday night.”

Lee, 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the region, has used its powerful ground game to make Game 10 this meaningful. The Trojans boast the region’s top two rushers in Caleb McDowell and Preston Simmons. They already have wins over the region’s other two teams — 27-6 over Houston County and 20-14 over Northside-Warner Robins.

Valdosta’s success under first-year head coach Rush Propst has featured the passing game with quarterback Amari Jones and a trio of top college prospects at wide receiver — Tahj Sanders, Javonte Sherman and Allah Brown. The Wildcats are 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the region with wins over Northside (14-0) and Houston County (31-14).

The Trojans were 0-8 in their history against Valdosta before winning 63-7 in 2018 and 53-50 last year.

Staff Photo: Joe Whitfield