By Steve Carter
TIFTON — A day after finding out they shared the top spot in the Associated Press Class AAAAA state football poll with the Colquitt County Packers, the Tift County Blue Devils got news Tuesday that they are alone at No. 1 in the new GaSports.com Football Coaches Class AAAAA Poll.
Tift is followed in the top five by Norcross at No. 2, Colquitt at No. 3, North Gwinnett at No. 4 and Camden County at No. 5.
The remainder of the poll has Central Gwinnett, sixth; Lowndes, seventh; Harrison, eighth; Roswell, ninth; and South Cobb, 10th.
While the Devils are in the state spotlight this week, the only thing on the mind of Tift head coach Jay Walls is the Valdosta Wildcats.
Tift will host the Wildcats Friday night at Brodie Field. The 8 p.m. game will be Tift’s first Region 1-AAAAA contest of the year while Valdosta is currently 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the region following a 17-15 loss at Colquitt County last week.
“We are focused on our game Friday night,” Walls said. “We just want to do well in the region, because we haven’t even won a region game yet.”
The Devils were off as the 1-AAAAA season began last weekend. Besides the Colquitt win over Valdosta, Lowndes defeated Coffee by a 7-0 score and Warner Robins garnered a 10-9 victory over Houston County.
Walls said he wants to keep up with Colquitt, Lowndes and Warner Robins in the region standings.
“(Polls) are not one of our priorities,” said Walls. “Our priority this week is to get ready for the Valdosta Wildcats.”
Oct. 2, 2006
GaSports.com Football Coaches Poll
Class A
1 Emanuel County Institute
2 Turner County
3 Hawkinsville
4 Lincoln County
5 Wilcox County
6 Dooly County
7 Bowdon
8 Clinch County
9 Athens Academy
10 Commerce
Class AA
1 Charlton County
2 Buford
3 Dublin
4 Calhoun
5 Fitzgerald
6 Lovett
7 Greater Atlanta Christian
8 Greene County
9 McIntosh County Academy
10 Swainsboro
Class AAA
1 LaGrange
2 Carrollton
3 Peach County
4 Chamblee
5 Thomson
6 Gainesville
7 Cartersville
8 Stephens County
9 Flowery Branch
10 Cairo
Class AAAA
1 Northside, Warner Robins
2 Griffin
3 Statesboro
4 Dacula
5 Dalton
6 Creekside
7 Baldwin
8 Westside, Macon
9 Southwest DeKalb
10 Mays
Class AAAAA
1 Tift County
2 Norcross
3 Colquitt County
4 North Gwinnett
5 Camden County
6 Central Gwinnett
7 Lowndes
8 Harrison
9 Roswell
10 South Cobb
