MOULTRIE — Valdosta and Richmond Hill, the newest additions to Region 1-7A, won their season openers on Friday and Colquitt County followed suit on Saturday, defeating Deerfield Beach, Fla., 37-0.

But defending region champion Lowndes and Camden County were unable to start their seasons with victories, despite playing at home.

American Heritage 38, Lowndes 20

The American Heritage-Lowndes matchup was the second game in the first Georgia-Florida Challenge played at Martin Stadium.

The game was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but was pushed back to well after 9 p.m. when the first game, a 37-0 Colquitt County victory over Deerfield Beach, was delayed for nearly two hours in the second quarter by lightning.

American Heritage, of Plantation, Fla., did not seem affected by the late start, scoring on its first snap on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Blake Murphy to Brandon Innis and adding another touchdown later in the quarter on a 51-yard run by Mark Fletcher.

The Patriots went on to lead 24-0 at the half.

American Heritage rolled up 479 yards on the Vikings in Zach Grage’s first game as the Lowndes head coach.

Grage had been the coach at Thomasville the last six years and took the Bulldogs to the Class 2A state championship game last December.

Sophomore Marvis Parrish got his first start at quarterback for the Vikings and completed 14-of-27 passes for 173 yards. He also rushed for 92 yards and scored all three Lowndes touchdowns.

Lowndes will be back at home next Friday to play host to another Florida team, Gadsden County.

Richmond Hill 14, Effingham Co. 0

Richmond Hill’s debut in Class 7A got off to a slow start.

Kickoff of the Wildcats game against visiting Effingham County was delayed by 30 minutes because of the weather and then Richmond Hill was unable to put up any points – and managed just two first downs – in the first half against the visiting Rebels.

The Wildcats finally broke through with 4:30 left in the third quarter on a 9-yard reverse by senior wide receiver Ravon Grant.

The other Richmond Hill touchdown came on a 4-yard run by Zion Gillard.

Aiden Styan converted one extra point; Blake Williams got the other in the 14-0 shutout win.

Returning starting quarterback Ty Goldrick completed 8-of-14 passes for 73 yards for the Wildcats. Mason Wilcox had three catches for 29 yards and Grant had three for 11 yards.

Senior defensive lineman Dontae Goodner led the Wildcats with nine tackles, including five solo. He had one tackle for a loss and a pair of quarterback pressures. Sophomore defensive lineman Gabe Bauman also had nine tackles.

Wildcats coach Matt LeZotte is now 7-1 in season-openers at Richmond Hill.

Richmond Hill will travel next Friday night to Waycross to meet Ware County.

The game will be the first for the Gators, whose Friday meeting with Appling County was canceled.

Valdosta 40, North Miami Beach 6

In the first game since its return to Region 1 in the state’s highest classification, Valdosta had little trouble with North Miami Beach, winning 40-6 at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.

The Wildcats led 34-0 at the half and went on to out-gain the Pioneers 344-139.

Sophomore quarterback Todd Robinson made his first career start for Valdosta and completed 5-of-13 passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns, both to Ahmad Denson.

Robinson also carried six times for 79 yards and another touchdown.

Valdosta rushed the ball 44 times 258 yards and four touchdowns.

North Miami quarterback Makhhai Stevenson completed just 5-of-23 passes for 71 yards.

The Wildcats will be back at home next Friday to take on Cook.

The Hornets’ season-opener against Pelham was postponed by weather on Friday.

Columbia 13, Camden County 10

Against a team it defeated 31-0 last year, Camden County dropped its season-opener 13-10 to Columbia High on Friday at Chris Gilman Stadium.

The Wildcats won only three other games last season after defeating the Eagles, who went on to reach the second round of the state playoffs, winning their first playoff game in 24 years.

Columbia, which traveled from Decatur to open the season in Kingsland for the second-straight year, got first-half touchdown runs from Elijah Morgan and Jaden Baugh and made them stand up.

The Eagles rushed for 242 yards on 35 carries against the Camden County defense.

Camden scored its lone touchdown in the second quarter and trailed 13-7 at the half.

But the Wildcats managed just a fourth-quarter field goal the rest of the way.

Of this and that:

• Former Packers head coach Justin Rogers got his tenure at Thomas County Central off to a resounding start, leading the Yellow Jackets to a 50-7 victory over Cairo.

The Yellow Jackets led 29-7 at the half and 43-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Thomas County Central was 19-22 over the last four seasons under Ashley Henderson. Rogers was 26-7 with a region championship in three seasons at Colquitt County.

The Yellow Jackets will play at crosstown rival Thomasville on Friday.

In their first game since Jonathan DeLay replaced Zach Grage, who left for Lowndes, the Bulldogs lost last Friday at Brooks County 42-7.

• Tift County, playing in Class 6A this season, opened 2022 with a 55-7 loss to Coffee at Brodie Field.

The Blue Devils will make a first-ever trip to Henry County to meet Dutchtown on Friday.

• Worth County defeated Turner County 22-6 last week in Jeff Hammond’s first game as head coach of the Rams.

Worth will go to Mitchell County on Friday.

• Lee County, which will play host to Colquitt County on Sept. 9, opened with a 26-10 victory over two-time Class 5A defending champion Warner Robins.

Ousmane Kromah rushed for 216 yards on 20 carries for Lee County, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A.

Lee will play host to Hapeville Charter on Friday.

• Cedar Grove, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, went to Bainbridge and took a 30-14 win over the Bearcats.

After trailing 7-0, the Saints scored 30 unanswered points.

Defending state champion Cedar Grove will come to Moultrie on Sept. 23.

• Westlake, under new head coach Rico Zackery, a former Packers assistant, lost its first game of the season, falling to North Cobb 21-17.

The Lions will be home to play host to Crisp County on Friday.

• Peach County, which the Packers handled easily in the fall scrimmage on Aug. 5, beat Baldwin 50-20.

Peach quarterback Colter Ginn, passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.

• Former Colquitt County defensive coordinator Byron Slack’s first game as Cook’s head coach was postponed by weather. Cook was scheduled to play Pelham.