If you enjoy defense, shield your eyes. In fact, if you are content with any semblance of a standard high school football game, read no further. In the first round of the 2016 GHSA 7A playoffs, Lowndes defeated Hillgrove at home … 92-61. No, that’s not a typo. The Vikings and Hawks combined for 153 points, the highest scoring football game in Georgia high school history.
Lowndes quarterback Michael Barrett accounted for seven total touchdowns and 419 all-purpose yards. Six different Vikings snagged an interception, mainly resulting from Hillgrove quarterback Hunter Arters’s desperation heaves to keep up with Lowndes’s unstoppable offense. But how did this madness occur, and how did the scoring never manage to stop?
It all started just nineteen seconds into regulation, as Barrett scampered for a 50-yard score. Hillgrove answered relatively quickly with an Arters passing touchdown. Three minutes later, Lowndes found the endzone once again to extend the lead to 13-7. This is when the game unraveled.
A miscue on the ensuing kickoff gave Lowndes the ball inside Hillgrove’s 20-yard line, which they easily converted into a touchdown. Forty seconds later, Arters took a deep shot and connected with Chigoziem Okonkwo to trim the Viking lead to seven. Both teams traded scores again to end the first quarter at 28-21.
Early in the second quarter, Hillgrove intercepted a Michael Barrett pass, setting them up for an easy 2-yard touchdown to trail by one. Then, in what can only be described as a complete Hillgrove defensive collapse, Lowndes scored four touchdowns in under 5 minutes. That sequence included two Travis Tisdale rushing scores and three Hillgrove interceptions. The halftime score stood at 56-33.
End the game now, and the score would fall within the “acceptable” range. But no mercy would be shown that night. Actually, Hillgrove made a furious third quarter comeback with three touchdowns to cut the lead to 56-54. However, Lowndes regained their composure at the right time, scoring five of the game’s last six touchdowns. That included a rapid-fire assault of 22 points in 46 seconds, with an assist given to Arters, who threw for two touchdowns – to Lowndes defenders.
Amazingly, no points were scored in the last six minutes of the game, bringing the final score to a cringeworthy 92-61, the highest scoring game in GHSA football history.
In 1974, Lowndes scored 73 points in an entire 10-game season. They scored 92 alone in their shootout against Hillgrove. In the 2014 state quarterfinals, Hillgrove allowed Archer to score 56 points. Lowndes matched that total in one half.
This game set offensive records that might never be broken. We might never understand how Hillgrove lost when they ran more plays, gained more first downs, and committed fewer penalties than Lowndes. However, we can all reminisce on the fact that on November 11, 2016, the world witnessed the highest scoring GHSA game ever, an offensive showdown that might never be repeated again.
And hopefully, it won’t.
