It’s now or never for Tift County

TIFTON — The Tift County Blue Devils are 11-1 on the year and ranked third in the state Class AAAAA Associated Press poll. The North Gwinnett Bulldogs are also 11-1 and are ranked fifth.

Those two teams will hook up tonight at 8 at Brodie Field with a berth in the state semifinals Dec. 9 at the Georgia Dome on the line.

Both teams are in leagues that still have three teams alive in the state quarterfinals. Tift is joined by Region 1 members Houston County and Warner Robins, while North Gwinnett is still alive with Region 7 mates Norcross and Peachtree Ridge.

With both teams having gone through obvious tough region races, Tift head coach Jay Walls is expecting a tough battle tonight as he tries to go to 13-0 at Brodie Field as Blue Devil head coach.

“They’re one of the best teams we have faced this year,” Walls said. “We have faced a lot of good teams this year and North Gwinnett is definitely one of the best.”

Walls feels like North Gwinnett compares on offense with the team Tift defeated to seal up the Region 1-AAAAA championship.

“I would compare them in skill level to Colquitt County,” said Walls. “Colquitt County had very good skill people and they would be comparable to them.

“I think their defense athletically is as good as other defenses in our region.”

Expecting a challenge tonight, Walls did reveal the Devils should be relatively healthy going into the contest.

“Tobias (Walker) is going to be able to practice today (Wednesday) and Jay (Gaskins) has been released and we think he will be ready,” Walls said.

A defensive lineman, Walker hurt his ankle in Tift’s first-round matchup against East Coweta. Gaskins, who leads Tift with five interceptions from his free safety spot, has not played in the playoffs due to a knee injury.

“We were healthier than we were last week,” said Walls.

Having Gaskins back will help the Devils as North Gwinnett quarterback Michael Tamburo is one of the leading passers in the state with 1,946 yards.

“Having Jay back will help with our depth in the secondary and experience,” Walls said. “Jay has had a lot of interceptions and he is going to play with a lot of intensity. I think it will help.”

Walls wanted to emphasize the game will be played tonight. The coach said there had been a rumor going around Tift County High about the game having been moved to Saturday.

“We are going to play Friday,” Walls said. “There was a sign of saying the game would be postponed until Saturday in the event of bad weather. Some people got confused and didn’t read the sign all the way through.”

Tickets are also still available for tonight’s game.

The general public can purchase general admission seats for $10 and reserved seats for $15 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the high school office today.

There will also be $10 general admission tickets available at the ticket booth outside the visitor’s stands at Brodie Field from 2 p.m. until game time.

All ticket sales are final, there will be no refunds.

Local Sports

Search Results

Which (if any) of the Republican presidential candidates are you planning to support?

Site Map

Contact Us