Derrick Davis | The Valdosta Daily TimesLowndes quarterback Michael Barrett, left, and Valdosta linebacker Zakoby McClain embrace briefly after a play in a May 12 spring game at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

VALDOSTA — Winnersville is a war that divides the city of Valdosta into two factions, city and county, Wildcats and Vikings, for a week.

It’s a war fought by friends and family on opposing sides.

As seniors, and all-state players a year ago, Valdosta linebacker Zakoby McClain and Lowndes quarterback Michael Barrett are the generals of their respective sides.

The two also share a blood bond.

McClain and Barrett are cousins, a fact they learned after years of competing against each other on the football field.

“We kind of found out and we had already been close friends, always competing with each other,” Barrett said. “Then when we found out, we just kind of bonded more.”

The two never played on the same football team growing up.

Always on opposite sides of the field from each other with McClain at linebacker and Barrett somewhere in the offensive backfield, both looked at the other as motivation to get better.

“I’d be out there, ‘Aw, man. Zakoby’s over there, I’ve got to come over here. I know he’s going to try to hit me,’” Barrett said. “I watch him while I’m out there. I know where he’s at because I know he’s trying to come at me.”

The blossoming rivalry began to bloom last season when both players stepped into the limelight for their respective teams as juniors.

McClain was locked in to a starting spot within Valdosta’s linebacking corps and expected to be an impact defender. Meanwhile, Barrett went from playing linebacker the year prior to taking over the reigns at Lowndes’ quarterback.

As fate would have it, the Winnersville Classic was moved up to the first game of the season, in which McClain’s Wildcats would topple the Vikings 38-13 in Barrett’s first start.

It was a matchup McClain was prepared for from kickoff.

“On Friday night when we’re about to play Lowndes, I’m just thinking, ‘Oh, Mike’s about to try to run me over. He’s about to try to shake me,’” McClain said. “‘He’s about to do everybody, but he ain’t about to do me though.’”

“When I get on the field, I just look at him. Then when he runs the ball, okay, I’m going to get him.”

Barrett completed 8-of-15 passes for 95 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also rushed for 71 yards and a score on 12 attempts, but it was a pedestrian performance compared to what Barrett would do the rest of the season.

In his first year as a varsity quarterback, Barrett threw for a school-record 2,759 yards with 27 touchdowns on 60 percent passing with just six interceptions and rushed for 1,203 yards and 22 touchdowns at 7.0 yards per carry.

The Region 1-7A Player of the Year directed the highest-scoring offense in the classification with 594 points and he led Lowndes to a 10-3 record and the quarterfinal round of the Class 7A playoffs.

Of course, McClain made 123 stops, including 20 for a loss, as the Wildcats went on to finish 14-1 and hoisting Valdosta’s first state championship since 1998.

Coming up two wins shy of his own trip to the Georgia Dome, it was hard for Barrett to watch his rivals claim the ultimate prize, but he said he pulled for Valdosta to bring a championship back to TitleTown.

“It was tough, you know what I’m saying, because we all wanted to be there,” Barrett said. “But I was still supporting him from home.

“I know there were a lot of people from Lowndes wishing they didn’t make it, but I still support my boys. Since we didn’t get it, I wanted them to get it and bring it back home.”

Even after the season, the competition between the McClain and Barrett persisted as the two received recognition of their play and offers from schools across the country.

Barrett, a 247Sports Composite three-star prospect with offers from more than a dozen schools including, Michigan, LSU, Tennessee and N.C. State, admitted to tracking McClain’s offers. The four-star prospect has received nearly two dozen offers from programs such as Auburn, LSU, Michigan State and Florida State.

The 6-foot 205-pound McClain said most schools view him as a middle linebacker, while the 5-11, 207-pound Barrett is still trying to figure out where he fits best at the next level.

“I don’t like to limit myself to a position,” Barrett said. “I feel like I’m a pretty good quarterback, but I don’t feel like that’s my best position. I feel like I can play linebacker, but I’m not sure that’s my best position.

“So, I’m just trying to figure out what’s best.”

But for the time being, Barrett will lineup at quarterback for a Lowndes program attempting to win its first Winnerville Classic since 2013.

The Winnersville Classic became a non-region game last year when Georgia High School Association reclassification separated Valdosta and Lowndes into Class 6A and 7A, resepectively, but it hasn’t taken the bite out of the rivalry game.

The game doesn’t need high stakes — pride alone is enough to keep the flames of the rivalry stoked.

Look no further than the spring game between the Wildcats and Vikings for confirmation.

When speaking about playing Lowndes, McClain was quick to bring up his hit on Barrett in the spring game that resulted in the ball popping out of his hands near the red zone and into the grasp of the Valdosta defense.

“In the spring game, I hit him from the blind side, he didn’t even see me,” McClain said with a smile. “I was happy. If he would have saw me, he would have been tough to tackle because he’s kind of hard to tackle because he’s so big.”

Lowndes got the victory in May, holding a 10-3 lead after the half of scheduled varsity play, and Barrett believes the Vikings will keep the momentum going Friday at Martin Stadium.

“We taking it,” Barrett said. “For sure.”

McClain scoffed and remarked: “Just let him talk.”

The two agreed on one thing: hopefully this is the year TitleTown brings both the 6A and 7A state championships back to south Georgia.

With Valdosta set to begin the season ranked No. 1 in Class 6A by the Georgia Sports Writers Association, and Lowndes ranked No. 5 in Class 7A, it appears the goal is within grasp.

“We wish it could have happened last year,” Barrett said. “But I feel like the whole city would be up there if we were both up there.

“Just shut the city down.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.