By Steve Carter
TIFTON — On their way to winning the football program’s first region title in 23 years, one of the toughest games the Tift County Blue Devils saw during the regular season was a 7-2 victory over the Collins Hill Eagles.
Tift head coach Jay Walls feels like the Devils will come across a similar team Friday night when his squad opens the state Class AAAAA playoffs at home against the East Coweta Indians.
“They are a very good football team,” Walls said. “I would compare them to a Collins Hill.
“Collins Hill had size, speed and skill. They are in the playoffs and they have a good record. That’s who I would compare East Coweta to, as far as someone we have played.”
The offensive leader for the Indians is 6-foot-1, 240 pound fullback Tim McGill. The junior has rushed 201 times for 1,519 yards and has scored 22 touchdowns.
“He is their horse,” Walls said. “We have got to have a good night stopping him, and they do a lot of things with him.
“He is definitely a great back. His yards speaks for itself.”
Besides McGill, “They also have some good players at other positions. Nico Fowler is a good athlete. And No. 27, (Rod) Marrs is a big guy and is a good athlete for his size. They are very impressive on offense.”
Fowler has rushed for 270 yards on 14 carries, while Marrs has caught 12 passes for 189 yards. No height or weight on Marrs was available, but the senior appears even bigger than McGill on tape.
Marrs is the leading receiver for the Indians as quarterback Doug Saylor has not thrown much this season.
Defensively, the Indians run from a 4-3 formation.
“You can tell they are well-coached, and they like to be very aggressive,” said Walls. “Their linebackers are very active.”
The coach continued, “They are young, but you can’t really tell it by looking at the film. They play very good defense.”
East Coweta will come in with a 6-4 record. The Indians are on a two-game losing streak with the last loss being a 17-14 defeat at the hands of Region 4-AAAAA champion Newnan, 17-14, last Friday.
“They held the region champions to 17 points, and really Newnan was very fortunate to get those points,” said Walls.
After a 38-35 win over Colquitt County that clinched the 1-AAAAA title, the Devils are the second-straight region champion that East Coweta will face.
“Everybody is very excited about winning the region,” said Walls. “We have tried to remind our kids that we are very proud of them, and they did a great job. But that is all a part of the regular season. Now we start a new season, and the difference in this new season is if you win you are still in, but if you lose you’re sacking them up. There ain’t no second chance.
“We have got to be really focused this week.”
Game time at Brodie Field will be 8 p.m.
The winner of the Tift-East Coweta game will play the winner of the Union Grove-Windsor Forest contest in the second round. If Tift defeats East Coweta, the Devils would host that contest.
NOTE: OneVision Media Group is sponsoring a community pep rally tomorrow evening from 6-9 at the Leroy Rogers Senior Center.
Lil’ TRILL will be there to do a live performance of the “Devil Walk”. There will also be a “Devil Walk” contest with the first place-prize being $100.
Admission will be $5.
