Each and every year, the Valdosta–Lowndes high school football game, known as the Winnersville Classic, in South Georgia is huge. However, Friday night’s cross-town rivalry game is just a bit bigger with Valdosta being one win away from becoming the first high school football program in America to win 900 games.
Valdosta, which began playing football in 1913, is America’s all-time winningest high school football team with a record of 899-220-34. The game will also mark the first game for Alan Rodemaker, who became head coach in February after Rance Gillespie took a coaching job at Georgia Southern. Rodemaker, who served as the program’s defensive coordinator over the past six years, is the 16th coach at Valdosta.
The 10,000 tickets for the game that will be played at Valdosta’s Bazemore-Hyder Stadium at Cleveland Field sold-out in a couple of days.
Valdosta leads the all-time series 36-18, with the Wildcats having won the last two match-ups.
Entering the 2016 season, ten teams have won more than 800 games. Below is that list from the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Valdosta (Georgia) – 899 wins
Fort Thomas Highlands (Kentucky) – 876 wins
Male (Kentucky) – 859 wins
Massillon Washington (Ohio) – 853 wins
Mayfield (Kentucky) – 847 wins
Mount Carmel (Pennsylvania) – 833 wins
Canton McKinley (Ohio) – 814 wins
Parkersburg (West Virginia) – 809 wins
Easton (Pennsylvania) – 807 wins
Muskegon (Michigan) – 807 wins
