Tift concentrating on winning regino

TIFTON — “Colquitt County may not be in the playoffs this year, but they are every bit as good as the teams that will be there from our region.”

That is how Tift County Blue Devils head football coach Jay Walls feels about the Colquitt County Packers.

Tift and Colquitt will close out the regular season tonight in Moultrie. Colquitt is already out of the running for a state playoff berth, but the Packers would like nothing better than keeping Tift from winning its first region football championship in 23 years.

The Devils would love to win the school’s first league title since 1983, which would guarantee Tift at least two home state playoff games if they were to advance to the second round. But Walls said his team has shown a lot of respect for Colquitt this week during practice.

“They don’t get up or get down. They have maintained an even keel,” said Walls. “They have been working hard, it hasn’t been a bad week at all. We have worked hard this week.”

While they have maintained an “even keel,” the Tift players also know what is at stake for them as a team, Walls indicated.

“We have a great opportunity,” said Walls. “Unfortunately a very good team is standing in our way.”

Both teams will put impressive athletes on the field.

Tift and Colquitt both have players that verbally committed to the University of Georgia — Israel Troupe and Vance Cuff respectively.

Troupe has caught 31 passes for 360 yards, has run 14 times for 89 yards and has returned five kickoffs for 109 yards and 11 punts for 102 yards. On the punt returns, Troupe has lost two touchdowns and 55 yards due to penalties.

Cuff has caught 28 passes for 382 yards, rushed seven times for 27 yards, intercepted two passes, made 26 total tackles and has returned three kickoffs for 61 yards and eight punts for 13 yards.

Besides Troupe other top athletes on the Tift side include Kaream Hess, Sean Baxley, Randy Parker, Jay Gaskins, Anthony Woods, Blake Reddick, Charlie Edwards, Josh Abbott, Zach Allen, A.J. Brown and Larry Bryant.

According to the official statistics provided by the Tift County High coaching staff, the Blue offense has put up 1,014 yards rushing and 1,013 yards passing.

“I think it is good to be balanced,” said Walls. “I think it is a part of hopefully winning the region.”

Led by Abbott’s 75 total stops, the Tift defense has also shown balance as six players have at least 40 total tackles this season.

Among the other top players for the Packers are Channing Hudson, Orion Ponder, B.J. Howard, Jarvis Lambright, Derek Illian, Javaris Jackson, Dontrell Johnson, Matt DeMott, and Terance Grant.

Game time is 7:30 p.m. tonight in Moultrie.

No matter what happens in the Colquitt contest, Tift will host a state playoff game on Nov. 17. The Devils will most likely play either Morrow, Mundy’s Mill or East Coweta out of Region 4-AAAAA.

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